Modern semen collection in squirrel monkeys involves electroejaculation (EE) under anesthesia in which the antegrade yield is low. Vibrostimulation (VS), as used in spinal cord injured men, offers in alert animals afferent stimulation for physiologically coordinated emission and ejaculation with potential for increased collection of sperm. During the breeding season, 15 donor males were divided into two groups of a crossover design, one received VS and the other EE. Three days later, the treatments were reversed. Unanesthetized, manually-restrained animals were positioned in ventral recumbency. VS consisted of a 1 mm amplitude-75Hz stimulation for 1 minute, rest for 1 minute, then continued stimulation at 1.8 mm amplitude-90Hz for 1 minute. For EE, animals were anesthetized and stimulated as previously reported. Thirteen of 15 animals responded to VS with specimens, 12 containing sperm. Mean volume was 435 ?l, motility was 81%, total count was 28.3 million. With EE, all 15 animals produced a specimen but only 9 specimens contained sperm. The EE specimen volume was 205 ?l, motility was 54%, and the total count was 0.36 million, thus, markedly less sperm was retrieved for study. Fructose (seminal vesical marker) and citric acid (prostate marker) content were non-significantly higher in the VS specimens. This is the first report of penile Vibrostimulation in non-humans and promises to be a superior technique to EE for semen collection in the squirrel monkey.
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