Duration of epididymal sperm transit in hamster: an autoradiographic study.

The time required for passage of spermatozoa through the epididymis has been determined in hamster employing quantitative light microscopic autoradiography with 3H-thymidine. The time required for spermatozoa to traverse the caput is 3 days; corpus, 2 days; proximal cauda, 2 days; distal cauda, 6 days. An additional 2 days are required for passage of spermatozoa through the proximal ductus deferens. The total duration of sperm transit through the ductus epididymis in sexually rested hamster has been estimated at about 15.0 days.