Fertilization of rabbit ova in vitro by sperm with adsorbed Sendai virus.

Fertilization occurs when rabbit ova are cultured in vitro with epididymal sperm to which Sendai virus is adsorbed. These sperm do not require capacitation in vivo in order to fertilize. Evidence for fertilization is penetration of sperm, the appearance of two polar bodies and pronuclei, and cleavage through the eight-blastomere stage. The viruses attach almost exclusively to the sperm acrosome, with resultant head-to-head agglutination of the sperm.