Biochemical analysis of human seminal plasma. I. Fructose, ascorbate, cholesterol, adenosine triphosphatase and...

Seminal levels of fructose, ascorbate, cholesterol, adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were estimated in human males divided into normal (Group I), azoospermic (Group II), infertile (Groups III, IV and V with different sperm numbers) and vasectomized (Group VI) cases. The fructose level of the normal subjects (Gr. I) recorded the lowest geometric mean value and that of the azoospermic patients being the highest; other groups registered intermediate values. A significant difference was evident in the level of ascorbate between normal (Gr. I) and azoospermic (Gr. II) conditions, the level being higher in the normal group. The seminal ATPase activity of different groups varied inversely with the number of sperms, the mean value of the normal (Gr.I) being the lowest. The results suggest that determination of seminal ATPase and ascorbate levels is likely to yield some useful information about the semen quality.