Evidence for a novel antioxidant in bovine seminal plasma

A factor in bovine seminal plasma capable of inhibiting lipid peroxidation was studied. The antioxidant is a heat stable, dialysable, polar and nonproteinaceous compound. It was stable under acid and alkaline conditions but the activity was lost upon ashing. On ultrafiltration using UM2 and UM10 membranes (1,000 and 10,000 daltons cut off, respectively) activity was found in both retentate and ultrafiltrate. Gel chromatography of retentate and ultrafiltrate on Sephadex G-50 showed that the antioxidant activity in both fractions was due to the same factor.