Human Spermhormone

By a described process, spermhormone (an aqueous factor) was prepared from pooled human seminal fluid rich in spermatozoa. Tests were made in batches of white mice aged from 4 to 6 weeks. In each group tested there were 20 males, 20 females and 5 controls. The dose of spermhormone was 1 mg injected intraperitoneally twice a week for as long as twenty weeks. The females did not manifest any significant changes, but the males were hyperactive sexually and always fighting other males. At autopsy, the testes and seminal vesicles were found to be much larger than in the controls. The seminiferous tubules were packed with spermatozoa. Active spermatogenesis was evident. The Leydig cells were increased in number and size. Both female and male mice were fertile, but there was no evidence that spermhormone had estrogenic activity. Thus a lipopolysaccharide extracted from human spermatozoa stimulated spermatogenesis, the Leydig cells, the seminal vesicles, and the growth of male mice.