Lipids and their Role in the Metabolism of Semen 131 



and 185-5 mg./lOO ml. of 'total Upid' and 83-5 mg./lOO ml. of 

 phospholipid, in the seminal plasma. However, he was unable to 

 detect lecithin either in the prostatic fluid or in the seminal plasma. 

 In both instances, two-thirds of the phospholipid consisted of an 

 ether-soluble choline-free phosphatide, probably identical with cepha- 

 line, the rest being some other, ether-insoluble material. Scott 

 found little neutral fat in either the prostatic secretion or the seminal 

 plasma, the sum of phospholipids and cholesterol accounting for 

 practically the entire 'total lipid'. The content of 70-120 mg. total 

 cholesterol /1 00 ml. seminal plasma recorded by Scott, is below the 

 cholesterol value for human blood plasma; a similar figure, 80 mg./ 

 100 ml., has been reported earlier by Goldblatt (1935a). 



'Lipid bodies'' and prostatic calculi 



In many species, the seminal plasma contains small globules, 

 droplets or granules, sometimes called the 'lipid bodies'. In man, 

 dog, cat, and rabbit, they are derived chiefly from the prostatic 

 secretion but in certain species they occur also in the seminal vesicle 

 secretion (Prevost and Dumas, 1824; Pittard, 1852). The globules of 

 the human prostatic secretion are referred to by Sir Henry Thompson 

 in his famous prize essay on the Diseases of the Prostate (1861), 

 as 'small yellowish bodies, in appearance sometimes granular, some- 

 times homogeneous, about the size of red blood corpuscles, but not 

 so uniform, being from about 1/5000 to 1/2500 of an inch in 

 diameter' and exhibiting 'considerable refractive power nearly so 

 much as to give them a resemblance to oil globules'. The occurrence 

 of similar elements in the prostatic secretion was later observed by 

 Fuerbringer (1881, 1886) who coined for them the name Leclthin- 

 kdrnchen\ These 'lecithin granules' or 'lecithin bodies' which Fuer- 

 bringer regarded as responsible for the normal opalescence and 

 milky appearance of the prostatic fluid, have since been re-examined 

 on several occasions, mostly by means of histological methods. 

 Chemical analysis however, failed to corroborate the presence of 

 lecithin in these particles. Other curious structures which according 

 to some authors are closely linked with the appearance of 'lipid 

 bodies' in the human seminal plasma, are certain larger bodies 

 known as 'colostrum corpuscles', 'corpora amylacea' and 'pros- 

 tatic calculi'. The colostrum corpuscles, frequently met with in the 

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