130 The Biochemistry of Semen 



rate of 0-787 mg./lO^" sperm cells/7 hr. The oxygen uptake recorded 

 during the same period is 1-45 ml. Oa/lO^" sperm, which if sustained 

 exclusively by phospholipids, would require the disappearance of 

 0-906 mg. of phospholipid. On the basis of these observations 

 Rothschild and Cleland conclude that the principal source of energy 

 required for the movement of sea-urchin spermatozoa is derived 

 from the oxidative breakdown of phosphilipids located mainly in 

 the middle-piece of the sperm cell. 



Lipids in the seminal plasma and male accessory gland secretions 



Apart from the lipids which form a part of the sperm structure, 

 there is also some lipid material in the seminal plasma. The bulk of 

 the 'bound choline', however, does not consist of phospholipids 

 but occurs in the form of acid-soluble phosphorylated derivatives of 

 choline (see p. 170). The lipid of the human seminal plasma origin- 



Table 19. Lipids of the human prostatic fluid and seminal plasma 

 (w^./lOO ml.) (Scott, 1945) 



(No. indicates the number of studied specimens.) 



ates chiefly from the prostatic fluid. Moore, Miller and McLellan 

 (1941) analysed twelve specimens of human prostatic secretion and 

 found up to 9-5 mg. lipid phosphorus per 100 g. fluid, with an 

 average of 2-7 mg. P/100 g. or 67-5 mg. phospholipid/ 100 g. Scott 

 (1945), whose analytical results are shown in Table 19, found an 

 average content of 286 mg./lOO ml. of 'total lipid' and 179-8 

 mg./lOO ml. of phospholipid, in the human prostatic secretion; 



