The sperm count has been correlated with the concentration of different substances secreted by the adnexal glands with conflicting results.In order to assess their diagnostic significance in male infertility the following substances were measured in seminal plasma: fructose and ascorbic acid produced by seminal vesicles and acid phosphatase and citric acid by the prostate gland. A statistical evaluation was made with the data obtained from azoospermic, oligozoospermic and control subjects.

Evidence has been reported to indicate that non-ejaculated spermatozoa in adult animals of different mammalian species may be eliminated by phagocytosis (Morgenstern, 1924), voiding in the urine (Oslund, 1928; Wilhelm & Seligmann, 1937;Bolliger & Carrodus, 1938), and dissolution into the vas deferens (Simeone & Young, 1931), though the phenomenon does not appear to have been studied quantitatively.The purpose of the present study was to investigate the presence and numbers of spermatozoa in the urine of isolated male rats.Six adult male rats of the Wistar strain, weighing 277 to 385 g, and of proven fertility, were separated from the female rats with which they had been mated. After 2 weeks, they were kept in individual metabolic cages, where the urine passed through a glass funnel into a 125-ml Erlenmeyer flask containing 5 ml of a solution of 1% thimerosal in saline. The flasks were collected in the morning and the evening. Care was taken to avoid sperm losses by washing the funnel with saline solution and adding this liquid to the flask.To assess the sperm concentration, the flask was shaken and a drop of the liquid was examined under a light microscope ( 100). When more than five spermatozoa per field were observed, a count was carried out directly in a Neubauer counting chamber. As the total volume was known, the results were expressed as the total number of spermatozoa eliminated. If there were less than five spermatozoa per field, 10 ml of the material was centrifuged at 2000 rev/min for 10 min, 9 ml of the supernatant were discarded and the sediment was resuspended in the remaining liquid.

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