An Acrosin Inhibitor in Ram Spermatozoa that Does Not Originate from the Seminal Plasma

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Abstract
Ram seminal plasma and ejaculated ram spermatozoa washed with 0.25 M sucrose both contain acrosin inhibitor. This work was to determine whether the intracellular inhibitor originates from the seminal plasma. The amounts of inhibitor in ejaculated and epididymal spermatozoa were measured and compared with the amounts present in the seminal plasma of normal and vasectomized rams. One ejaculated ram spermatozoon contained 2.1 amol (2.1 .times. 10-18 mol) of inhibitor and 1 epididymal spermatozoon contained 3.3 amol of inhibitor. (All molarities are mean values based on pooled ram semen or on single ejaculates from three vasectomized rams.) Calculations from results in earlier publications indicated that 1 ejaculated ram spermatozoon contains about 3 amol of acrosin; thus the inhibitor:acrosin ratio in washed ram spermatozoa is approximately 1. One milliliter of ram semen contains, on average, 3 .times. 109 spermatozoa and not more than 0.8 ml of seminal plasma. This number of ejaculated spermatozoa would contain 6.3 nmol of inhibitor, while the same number of epididymal spermatozoa would contain 9.9 nmol of inhibitor. These values exceed the quantities of inhibitor present in 0.8 ml of normal seminal plasma (.apprx. 1.6 nmol) or in 0.8 ml of seminal plasma from vasectomized rams (.apprx. 2.3 nmol). Seminal plasma is apparently not a major source of the acrosin inhibitor that can be recovered from washed ejaculated ram spermatozoa.

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