[The adenosine phosphate content in human sperm and their motility]

Adenosine phosphoric acids (ATP, ADP, AMP) are of significance for the metabolic processes in living beings, including spermatozoa, as they are the principal donors of energy in all the reactions of biosynthesis. Besides, spermatozoa need the energy to perform a particular function-to move in the female genital tract to the ovum. It was stated that a decrease in the ATP levels reduced or ceased the translational motion of spermatozoa, therefore the investigations of adenosine phosphates in the spermatozoa were found to be mandatory. The authors studied the levels of ATP, ADP and AMP and the energy charge in the native human spermatozoa in the patients with oligo- and asthenospermia. Spermatozoa with morphologically and physiologically normal fertility were used as controls. The results obtained demonstrated that in oligospermic males the levels of ATP were slightly decreased whereas the levels of AMP significantly increased from 31.6 to 38 per cent. As a result there was a significant decrease in the ATP/ADP ratio. A more pronounced decrease in the ATP levels and an increase in the AMP levels were revealed in asthenospermic patients (12.6 and 40.5 per cent respectively. In the latter patients the ADP fraction decreased to 42.4 per cent versus 51.4 per cent in health and the energy charge underwent a more significant decrease: from 0.37 (normal) to 0.3. The results obtained are indicative of the possibility of using the aforementioned method for a comprehensive evaluation of the spermatozoan functional activity and the detection of asthenospermia-inducing mechanisms.