Effects of prostatic secretion on reduced sugars in human seminal plasma

Glucose and fructose levels were determined enzymatically in liquefied human seminal plasma (whole or collected in three fractions) and in preparations obtained by DEAE ion-exchange chromatography on whole seminal plasma. When these secretions or DEAE-extracted preparations were overloaded with fructose, the level of glucose increased. This increase is greater in fraction I of split ejaculates than in fractions II and III, and is greater in solutions containing elements of prostatic secretion obtained chromatographically than in whole seminal plasma. Using increasing quantities of fructose in the overloading test, glucose levels reached a maximum, suggesting that the process of conversion of fructose into glucose appears to be related to an enzymatic process. Other experiments suggest that the sperm-free fraction I of split ejaculates and compounds obtained from seminal plasma by ion-exchange chromatography contain enzymes of prostatic origin that are involved in the conversion of fructose to glucose.