ACCESSORY MAMMALIAN REPRODUCTIVE GLANDS 



387 



TABLE 6.4 



Phosphor ylchoUne and a-glycerophosphorylcholine in semen and in 

 secretions of accessory reproductive glands 



Species 



Concentration (mg. per 100 gm.) of: 



Phosphorylcholine a-Glycerophosphorylcholine 



Ram 



Ram 



Bull 



Bull 



Bull 



Bull 



Bull 



Cioat 



Boar 



Boar 



Boar 



Stallion. . . 

 Stallion. . . 



Man 



Rat 



Rat 



Rabbit... 

 Hedgehog. 

 Hedgehog. 

 Monkey. . . 

 Cock..'.... 



Semen 



Seminal pla.sma 



Semen 



Seminal plasma 



Vesicular secretion 



Epididymal secretion 



Ampullar secretion 



Semen 



Seminal plasma 



Vesicular secretion 



Epididymal secretion 



Semen 



Ampidlar secretion 



Semen 



Vesicular secretion 



Seminal vesicle 



Semen 



Secretion of "Prostate I and 11" 



Secretion of "Prostate III" 



Vesicular secretion 



Semen 

















 Present 

































 256-380 









 Present 

 Present 

 Present 

 Present 



1185-1942 



1601-2040 



237-460 



110-496 







1490 



94 



1382-1550 



108-235 



190 



3060 



38-113 



120 



59-90 



654; 530-765" 



190-515" 



215-370 



Present 















° Results from Williams-Ashman and Banks (1956); all other values from Dawson, Mann and White 



lf57). 



the bull and boar, the epidiclymi.^ is the ])rin- 

 cii)al source of the glyceroiihosi)horylcholine 

 of the seminal plasma. 



Williams-Ashman and Banks (1956) in-o- 

 vided evidence that the choline moiety of the 

 glycerophosphorylcholine in vesicular secre- 

 tion is not derived from a direct reaction 

 between glycerol and cytidine diphosphate 

 choline. The latter nucleotide was shown 

 to be a precursor of lecithin in rat seminal 

 vesicle tissue. The glycerophosphorylcholine 

 of seminal plasma may originate from the 

 enzymatic degradation of the choline-con- 

 taining lipids of the seminal vesicle epi- 

 thelium. 



Choline and glycerophosjihorylcholine are 

 not metabolized by spermatozoa, and do not 

 affect their respiration (Dawson, Mann and 

 White, 1957). There is no evidence that the 

 water-soluble choline derivatives of seminal 

 plasma serve any useful function. 



Lipids. That lipid-containing granules are 

 l^resent in human seminal plasma has been 

 known for more than a century. They are 

 found in prostatic secretion (Thompson, 



1861 1, and were termed "lecithin-kornchen" 

 by Fuerbringer (1881). However, Scott 

 ( 1945 ) showed that lecithin is absent from 

 both of these fluids, and that the majority 

 of the phospholipid therein is phosphatidyl 

 ethanolamine. Neutral fat is virtually ab- 

 sent from human seminal plasma and pros- 

 tatic secretion, one-third of the total lipid 

 of which can be accounted for as cholesterol. 



According to Boguth (1952), about one- 

 third of the total plasmalogen in bull semen 

 (30 to 90 mg. per 100 ml.) is in the seminal 

 plasma. In the ram, only 10 per cent of the 

 seminal plasmalogen is found outside the 

 spermatozoa (Hartree and ]Mann. 1959). 



Large amounts of 7-dehydrocholesterol 

 were found in the preputial gland and epi- 

 didymis of the rat (Ward and ]\Ioore, 1953) . 

 One gram of the hydrocarbon heptacosane 

 (CH3(CHo)o5CH3) was isolated from an al- 

 coholic extract of 18 liters of human semen 

 by Wagner-Jauregg (1941). The partition 

 of heptacosane, and of steroidal estrogens 

 (Diczfalusy, 1954) and androgens (Dir- 

 scherl and Kniicliel, 1950) between the sjierm 



