Ion-exchange chromatography of amino acids in ejaculates of diabetics

30 amino acids and their derivatives could be found in the ejaculates of humans by ion-exchange chromatography. There were significant differences between diabetics and controls in the levels of threonine, serine, glutamine, glycine, iso-leucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, histidine and in 3-methyl-histidine. There was a positive correlation between levels of certain amino acids and the number of pathologically motile spermatozoa, particularly microforms and head alterations. An impaired Krebs cycle function may explain an elevation of amino acid levels as they are utilized mainly by this cycle, which function depends on intact substrate flow from glucose catabolism.