Glutamic-Oxalacetic Transaminase Leakage from Human Spermatozoa as an Indicator of Cryodamage

Abstract

The levels of extracellular glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase (GOT: EC 2.6.1. I ) activity have been measured in cell-free supernatants of human semen and of semen + cryoprotectant mixtures both before freezing by either cryostorage or quench-freezing regimes, and after subsequent thawing. The mean level of GOT activity in seminal plasma was 293 ( 2 15 sem) IUil at 37"C, this being 15 times the level in normal blood plasma. Seminal GOT is positively correlated (p <O.OOl) with the sperm density. Increases in the extracellular GOT activity were measured after both cryostorage and quench-freezing, hut the latter procedure, which destroys all sperm motility, caused an average of 2.8 times more enzyme release than cryostorage.Although the release of GOT from human spermatozoa during freezing and thawing does not correlate with the commonly used percent return of motility as an estimate of cryosurvival, possible explantations for this finding, and its importance, are discussed. Objective measurements such as GOT release may be developed to augment, if not replace, subjective estimations of sperm motility as indicators of cellular integrity in studies of sperm cryostorage.

A Pilot Comparative Study of 26 Biochemical Markers in Seminal Plasma and Serum in Infertile Men

“…Our results showed that the activity of ALT and AST was 76.75 ± 24.29 U/L and 439.31 ± 110.57 U/L, respectively; both of them were significantly higher than those in serum; in particular AST activity in seminal plasma was 13.71 times higher than that in serum, similar to the result reported by Hirsch et al [ 7 ], that is, ALT: 62.3 ± 25.7 IU/L and GOT: 412 ± 191.1 IU/L. Mortimer and Bramley [ 24 ] also reported that the level of AST in seminal plasma was about 15 times higher than that in serum. Moreover, as reported by Dhami and Kodagali [ 25 ], the activity of ALT was positively correlated with that of AST ( r = 0.514, P = 0.001).…”

Oxidative stress and use of antioxidants in fish semen cryopreservation

“…In the former case, a significant diminution of glyceraldehyde 3phosphate dehydrogenase and total protein was recorded in human erythrocytes after thawing (Ballas 1981). In the second, significant changes in the activity of transaminase glutamic oxaloacetic, now known as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), were found in human (Mortimer & Bramley 1981) and chicken semen (Matsumoto et al 1985). Going a little further back, the deterioration of cell integrity due to cryopreservation, including alteration of proteins, was proposed by Karow and Webb (1965).…”