74 



W. SALISBURY 



^8 Z03 



40 120 200 280 360 



POTASSIUM CONCENTRATION - MG. / 100 ML. 



Fig. 7. Effect of K concentration in citrate-bicarbonate buffer on res- 

 piration and aeorbic fructolysis by washed ejaculated spermatozoa. Num- 

 ber of sperm samples, n, equals 8 (Cragle and Salisbury, 1959). 



sperm cells when the anions are citrate and bicarbonate (Cragle and 

 Salisbury, 1959). Potassium inhibits these metabolic activities inde- 

 pendently of the anions with which it is associated as can be seen by 

 comparison of Figs. 3, 4, and 7. 



Table IV presents part of the data from a factorially designed ex- 

 periment testing the manifold effects of osmotic pressure, pH and 

 K+ concentration in citrate-bicarbonate on washed bull spermatozoa 

 (Cragle and Salisbury, 1959). The data show that oxygen uptake by 

 the cells was not only markedly influenced by K+ and by pH but by 

 their interaction as well. In fact, the highest and the lowest (X up- 

 takes were both at pH 7 and at 231 milliosmoles, but varied inversely 



Table IV. Effects of osmotic pressure, potassium concentration, and pH 

 on aerobic metabolic activity of washed ejaculated spermatozoa ' b 



a n, the number of semen samples, equals 8. 

 b Cragle and Salisbury (1959). 



