Abstract
The viscous mucus which normally fills the canal of the cervix uteri presents a first barrier to the migration of spermatozoa from the vaginal lumen to the upper parts of the tract where fertilization occurs. When a mass of this mucus is exposed to the action of normal seminal fluid, the gross appearance is that of a lysis, with loss of viscosity and disintegration of the mass, apparently due to specific enzymic action. 1 This action is inhibited by the presence in the mucus of notable amounts of pus, leucorrheal cells, etc.
When the contact-boundary between normal cervical mucus and a normal semen specimen containing motile sperm is examined under the microscope, there is seen a gathering of sperm at the mucus surface which seems to be greater than can be accounted for merely by random swimming of the sperm. There is no evidence, however, of any attraction-field of the mucus surface exerting any influence on the distribution of sperm in the seminal fluid except in a narrow zone along the contact of the fluid with the mucus. The sperm do not very readily enter the mucus mass, nor do they progress in it, once entered, as rapidly as they do when swimming in a perfectly fluid medium. When one or more have succeeded in penetrating the mucus, what appears to be a small halo of more fluid material in the mucus can frequently be seen about the head of the advancing sperm, suggesting “lysis” of the mucus mass, thus making possible the advance of the sperm. Frequently, when one or more have entered, others follow, like a phalanx of sperm, with very actively lashing tails, following the leaders, oriented in general in the same direction, appearing to move up a “channel” against a vigorous current formed by the swimming-motion of the tails of those ahead; at times several sperm are swept backward and out by this current.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.