SPERMATOZOON STRUCTURE AND MOTILITY IN THE ANURAN LEPIDOBATRACHUS-LAEVIS

Synthetic human gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) injections were used for induction of spermatozoon release followed by cloacal lavage or mechanical stimulation of sperm release in Lepidobatrachus laevis. Light microscopic observations of Lepidobatrachus laevis spermatozoa i ndicated an acrosomal segment with a length of 4.1 mu m delineated by an indentation, a nuclear region of 12.6 mu m in length and a midpiece of 0.87 mu m in length. The tail was 54.9 mu m long by 1.35 mu m wide with two lateral axial fibers and a central undulating membrane. At t he electron microscopic level, the unusual tail had two complete axone mes that emanated from the distal centriole. The tail also contained t wo axial fibers 77 nm in diameter medial to the axonemes and was conne cted by an undulating membrane. An unusual accessory cell adherent to the head of the spermatozoon was noted in freshly obtained suspensions of spermatozoa. Spermatozoa with the accessory cell were motile and a subsequent loss of motility was correlated with the shedding of the a ccessory cell.