Significance of timing for the postcoital evaluation of cervical mucus

This investigation was designed to determine the role of cervical mucus in the dynamic in vivo distirbution of transported spermatozia in the human reproductive tract. Forty-two normal subjects had midcycle cervical mucus collection at various times after insemination. Sperm were identified in the cervical mucus at the level of the internal as shortly after insemination. The numbers of sperm in cervical mucus were directly related to the numbers of sperm in the inseminate and were related to time from insemenation. In order to obtain optimal information, the postcoital examination for the presence of sperm should be performed within two and one-half hours after semen exposure. It was also determined that cervical mucus does serve as a reservoir for those sperm which are transported to the Fallopian tubes.