Korean J Urol.  2008 Mar;49(3):266-270. 10.4111/kju.2008.49.3.266.

Electroejaculation in the Male Rat

• Paick SH
• Lee BK
• Yoon SW
• Baek M
• Kim HG
• Song EY
• Lyoo YS
• Lho YS

• KMID: 1204631
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4111/kju.2008.49.3.266

Abstract

PURPOSE: We examined the possibility of electroejaculation for the evaluation of fertility in the male rat.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Ten 8-week-old Sprague-Dawley male rats that underwent seminal vesiculectomy were used for semen collection by electroejaculation. With a transrectal probe(60Hz, 3V, 0.5A), sign wave electric stimulation was applied to an anesthetized rat. Ejaculated semen was collected by a pipette and the volume and sperm density of the ejaculate were analyzed. Two weeks later, a second electroejaculation was performed under the same conditions with the same rats.
RESULTS
At the first attempt, all 10 rats ejaculated following electric stimulation. The mean semen volume was 8.9 microliter (range, 3.0-28.5 microliter) and the mean sperm density was 6,428/ml(range, 320-20,997/ml). At the second attempt, only 7 of 10 rats(70%) ejaculated. The mean semen volume was 5.6 microliter(range, 3.3-8.6 microliter) and the mean sperm density was 2,801/ml (range, 227-12,555/ml).
CONCLUSIONS
These results indicated that electroejaculation has the possibility of being a useful method for evaluation of fertility in the male rat.

Keyword

Electric stimulation; Ejaculation; Fertility; Rats

MeSH Terms

Male
Humans
Rats
Animals

Figure

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  Fig. 1. The transrectal probe (hand-made) for electroejaculation in the male rat.

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  Fig. 2. The electrical stimulator for electroejaculation in the male rat.

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  Fig. 3. Changes of sperm density for the first and second attempts for electroejaculation.

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