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METABOLISM OF RHESUS MONKEY SPERMATOZOA

Summary.: Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) spermatozoa were found to have a high but variable rate of aerobic fructolysis. Efforts to correlate the rate of aerobic fructolysis with spermatozoal motility led to the development of a radiochemical method for determination of lactate. Rates of aerobic fructolysis, regulated by titration with fluoride and iodoacetate, have been shown to be positively correlated with motility ratings. Spermatozoal motility was depressed but not abolished by titration with antimycin A, amytal, cyanide, and 2-N-heptyl-4-hydroxy-quinoline N-oxide in the presence of fructose. Titration of washed spermatozoa with quinoline N-oxide in the absence of fructose showed respiratory rates to be positively correlated with motility. Incubation of washed spermatozoa under anaerobic conditions in the presence of fructose caused a slight but perceptible loss in motility. Motility was completely abolished by incubation of washed spermatozoa in the absence of fructose but was restored by aeration.

Monkey spermatozoa were further shown to be characterized by a rate of endogenous respiration comparable to that reported for the spermatozoa of many domestic animals, including the ram and bull. Substrates which significantly stimulated respiration were pyruvate, succinate, -ketoglutarate and malate. A mechanism for the decarboxylation of pyruvate independent of respiration (pyruvate dismutation) was indicated by the fact that more than twice as much radio-activity was found in evolved ¹⁴CO₂ when [1-¹⁴C]pyruvate was used as substrate than was found when an equal amount of [3-¹⁴C]pyruvate was used. ¹⁴CO₂ formation from the latter compound was almost completely inhibited by 2·1 µM antimycin A; ¹⁴CO₂ evolution from the former was inhibited less than 30%. [5,6-¹⁴C]Isocitrate and [¹⁴CH₃]choline were oxidized, as measured by ¹⁴CO₂ evolution, at rates approximately 1/10 and 1 /50, respectively, that of pyruvate. The rate of oxidation of each compound was diminished by electron transport chain inhibitors.