Metabolism of round spermatids from rats: lactate as the preferred substrate

Round spermatids were prepared from rat testes and incubated with various substrates (glucose, fructose, pyruvate, lactate and acetate) to measure utilization of substrates and production of ATP in the presence of saturating levels of each substrate. By both criteria lactate is the preferred substrate by a factor of 3 or 4. Production of more than half of the ATP with lactate is substrate is prevented by addition of an inhibitor of alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase (5-methoxyindole-2-carboxylic acid) Pyruvate and lactate are interconverted and pyruvate inhibits production of ATP from lactate. Synthesis of ATP with lactate and with pyruvate is inhibited by rotenone, rutamycin or 2,4-dinitrophenol. Utilization of glucose is limited by aldolase activity. These findings suggest that exogenous lactate is oxidized by lactate dehydrogenase followed by pyruvate dehydrogenase and Krebs; cycle enzymes under conditions which do not allow pyruvate to inhibit lactate dehydrogenase. ATP is synthesized through electron transport. Post-mitochondrial supernate from spermatids showed that high concentration of pyruvate (greater than 1 mM) inhibit lactate dehydrogenase with pyruvate as substrate and that with lactate as substrate, pyruvate behaves as a competitive inhibitor of lactate dehydrogenase. Evidently lactate is the preferred substrate for round spermatids and energy production is most efficient when this substance is present in high concentrations and pyruvate is present in low concentrations. Reasons are given for suggesting that Sertoli cells may provide the relatively large amounts of lactate required by round spermatids.