HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hopwood, M. L. Articles by Gassner, F. X. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Hopwood, M. L. Articles by Gassner, F. X.

The Concept of Fructose Utilization by Bull Sperm and Its Relation to Fertility¹

Endocrine Section, Colorado A & M Experiment Station, Fort Collins

ABSTRACT

Fructose conversion by 135 semen samples from bulls of acceptable fertility was determined at 20-minute intervals for 80 minutes and hourly thereafter during 3 hours incubation at 37° C. at a 2:1 dilution with 0.125 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.4). The removal of fructose by sperm fitted a first order, rather than a zero order, reaction under the conditions of the analysis. By using this principle for determining fructose-sperm reaction rates, a highly significant correlation with nonreturns of 0.604 ± 0.084 was observed, which compares favorably with the fructolysis index as a means of estimating probable fertility of bulls. Although the fructolysis index is a satisfactory tool for prediction of fertility, the rate determination, adjusted for sperm concentration, is a more justifiable measurement of the metabolic behavior of individual semen samples because it is shown to more truly represent the manner by which sperm remove fructose from seminal plasma.

¹ This work was supported in part by the Dairy Husbandry Research Branch, USDA, Beltsville, Md., and the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, G3721(C).