Seminal Amino Acid and Carbohydrate Pattern of Bulls with Normal and Abnormal Testes Function.

Abstract

It has been adequately demonstrated by Mann and coworkers ( 1-4) that elaboration of fructose by the accessory sex organs ceases after castration and that it is readily resumed following the administration of testosterone. We were able to confirm and extend their findings(5,6). In a series of transfers of sperm from normal seminal plasma Ito plasma of castrate animals treated with testosterone and other steroids, it was shown by us( 5 ) that the rate of fructose utilization decreased by as much as 70% even though the seminal fructose level was within or above the normal range. This justifies the speculation that the composition of seminal plasma obtained from such animals differs from that of the intact animal either because one or more constituents are lacking or because of a shift in the quantitative relationship of sume of the plasma componmts. Thus, it was desirable to more thoroughly characterize the nutrients in seminal plasma elaborated under various physiological conditions. I. Chromatography of seminal carbohydrates. I t also became apparent that as far as the carbohydrate pattern of seminal plasma is concerned, the chemical methods used have not been adequate. While Mann and his coworkers( 1-3) demonstrated that the seminal sugar is not glucose but fructose, they also stated that other sugars may be present in minute quantities. Since, to our knowledge, no attempt has been made to verify these findings by more sensitive methods such as paper partition chromatography, it seemed pertinent that this procedure be employed.Experimental. The semen or seminal plasma was extracted with 80% ethanol and the precipitated proteins were removed by centrifugation. The supernatant extract was reduced *This work was supported in part by Ciba Pharmaceutical Products, Summit, N. J., A m u r and Co., Research Division, and the Bureau of Dairy Industry, Agricultural Research Administration, Department of Agriculture.to dryness at 50°C and the dry residue diluted with 10% isopropyl alcohol to one-half the original volume. This extract concentrate was chromatographed in one dimension using the method outlined by Patton( 7 ) .I t was evidmt that only one sugar, namely fructose, was found in the semen of these bulls regardless of whether they were normal, vasectomized, or castrated and restituted with testosterone. It was also evident that the separation of the various sugars on the papergram is specific and critical whether this was done with mixtures of pure sugars or when such sugars were singly or in mixtures incorporated with the seminal plasma to be chromatographed. The addition of glucose to a semen sample containing fructose resulted in the appearance of 2 definite spots, glucose always being in the lower position. The concentration of sugars in spots obtained on paper following the development with either the Seliwanoff reagent or aniline hydrogen phthalate was measured with a Densichron. We were able to correlate reasonably well the fructose values obtained by chromatography with results of standard chemical analyses...

The Effect of some Seminal Constituents and Related Substances on Diluted Mammalian Spermatozoa

“…Confirmatory tests on six other bull ejaculates (Table 4) showed that biotin significantly improved motility at 5 I-'g/l00 ml (F = 18· 8) and 10 I-'g/lOO ml (F=54·5). (Gassner and Hopwood 1952;Larson and Salisbury 1953). A number have therefore been tested on diluted bull, ram, and rabbit semen.…”

Amino Acid Composition of Semen and the Secretions of the Male Reproductive Tract

“…The testicular origin of at least some of the amino acids in bull seminal plasma has been shown earlier (Gassner and Hopwood 1952;Hopwood and Gassner 1962) and, despite the contribution of the seminal vesicles, the concentration of most amino acids in the seminal plasma is not altered significantly by removal of these glands (Hess et al 1960). However, in the boar the seminal vesicles appear to contribute most of the glycine to the seminal plasma (Johnson et al 1972).…”

“…Although there are several reports on the free amino acid composition of ram and bull semen and reproductive tract fluids (Gassner and Hopwood 1952;Bhargava et al 1959;Hopwood and Gassner 1962;Setchell et al 1967), no direct comparison has been made between the amino acid content of the following fluids: rete testis fluid, epididymal plasma, vesicular fluid, seminal plasma and blood plasma. There are also little data available on the amino acid composition of the reproductive tract fluids of the rat or human.…”

Effect of amino acids and dipeptides on the acrosome reaction and accumulation of ammonia in porcine spermatozoa

“…1 It has been suggested that some of the amino acids that are detected in seminal plasma enhance spermatozoa metabolism and motility. 2 Sperm motility, viability and acrosome reaction (AR) depend strongly on the medium used during the process of in vitro manipulation.…”