The lipids of ram spermatozoa

Abstract

Since the pioneering studies of Miescher (1878,1897) it has been known that spermatozoa contain a considerable amount of intracellular lipid. Miescher believed the lipid material, which he extracted from salmon spermatozoa, to consist of 50 % lecithin, 35 % neutral fat and 14 % cholesterol. Studies by Mathews (1897) and Sano (1922) on the semen of various fishes also indicated the presence of a large amount of lecithin in the sperm cells. The lipids of sea-urchin sperm have been analysed by Cardin & Meara (1953) and found to consist of 26*0 % phospholipids, 32-9 % free fatty acids, 13-6 % neutral fat, 9-2 % sterols and 18-3 % of other unsaponifiable material. The lipid content of bull sperm was first determined by Kolliker (1856), who showed that ether-extractable material accounted for 12 % of the dry weight of the sperm. Miescher (1878), who performed the first analysis of the lipid extracted from bull sperm, thought that about half of it consisted of lecithin. More recently, determinations of total lipid and phospholipids in bull sperm were carried out by Lardy & Phillips (1941) and Zittle & O'Dell (1941). The latter authors found that 13 % of the dry weight of bull sperm was lipid, the sperm heads containing 7 % lipid, the middle pieces 6 % and the tails 23 %.The suggestion that lipids occur in spermatozoa in a bound state, presumably in the form of lipoproteins, was made by Halpem (1945) on the basis of his experiments with salmon semen. Mayer and washed by the procedure of Folch et al. (1951), in which a little insoluble material is collected at the interphase. Purification on cellulose was according to Lea & Rhodes (1953).

Phospholipids of Bovine Spermatozoa and Seminal Plasma

“…Gray (1960b) reported the phosphatides of whole ram semen consisted of 72% lecithin, 24-8% cephalin and 3-2% sphingomyelin, which was similar to our findings. Lovern et al (1957) reported that sphingomyelin con¬ stituted 5-5% of the total lipid of ram spermatozoa while we reported 9-1% of the phospholipid for bull spermatozoa.…”

“…Lovern, Olley, Hartree & Mann (1957), Hartree & Mann (1959) and Gray (1960a, b) have partially succeeded in elucidating the chemical nature of the lipids of ram spermatozoa and drew attention to the presence of a high percentage of plasmalogen in the spermatozoal lipids. Hartree & Mann (1961) presented evidence that the fatty acid moiety of the plasmalogen may be metabolized.…”

Effects of Dilution and Washing on Ram Spermatozoa Studied by the Flow Dialysis Technique

“…White (1953b) found that the motility of ram spermatozoa was reduced when potassium was removed from the suspending medium and that the restoration of potassium led to the recovery of sperm motility. Chemically, such a substance may well be related to the sperm lipid which is now known to be identical with plasmalogen (Lovern, Olley, Hartree & Mann, 1957). The possibility exists, however, that the material removed by washing consists of more than one substance.…”

Chemical Composition of the Acrosomes of Ram Spermatozoa

“…It was then determined by Aminoff's (1961) thiobarbituric acid method. To avoid interference from deoxyribose derivatives, spectrophotometric readings were made at two wave¬ lengths as described by Warren (1959a Representative data based upon Lovern, Olley, Hartree & Mann (1957) and Hartree & Mann (1959, 1961 (Flartree & Mann, 1959, 1960, 1961. 0-9 3-9 5-9 2-8 6-2 0-9 2-9 1-0 1-4 2-0 5-0 3-0 3-7 5-9 3-5 3-7 3-7 0-4 2-9 1-0 2-1 4-5 1-4 1-8 1-0 3-7 6-3 2-8 6-2 1-9 3-1 1-0 1-0 2-0 5-0 3-1 3-8 4-9 2-8 3-7 3-7 0-6 2-9 1-0 2-1 4-2 1-6 2-0 Burton's (1956) Warren (1959b) has published analyses of human semen for sialic acid.…”