Bovine Semen Metabolism. I. Methods for Expressing Fructolytic Activity

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Abstract
A method has been presented for determining the rate of decline in sperm fructolytic activity per minute (fructolysis coefficient, KU) in a manner which is independent of the initial fructose levels of the semen, and from which a biological half-life may be calculated. A second index of fructolytic activity (maximum fructose utilization, MFU) was also presented in which the initial amount of fructose utilized by 109 sperm in 1 minute at zero time was the measure of fructolysis. These measures were based on the concept that the decline in the amount of fructose utilized by sperm in successive time periods is essentially expressed by a first-order reaction, which concept was supported by the data presented and was shown graphically. The KU based on the mean performance of 70 semen samples was 0.0121, which means that there was a decline of 1.21% per minute in sperm fructolytic activity. The mean biological half-life of these semen samples was 57.4 minutes. The MFU was 0.0403 mg/109 sperm/minute and the fructolysis index was 1.738 mg of fructose.