EFFECTS OF SPERM ACTIVITY ON ZINC AND FRUCTOSE CONCENTRATIONS IN SEMINAL PLASMA

Attempts to correlate zinc and fructose concentrations in seminal plas ma with andrological parameters have produced inconsistent results. To assess further this relationship, a prospective study was performed m easuring zinc and fructose concentrations in seminal plasma in 1178 pa tients referred for fertility treatment. Seminal analysis was performe d with biochemical measurements of seminal zinc and fructose. The main outcome measures were the correlation between motile sperm concentrat ion and seminal zinc and fructose concentrations. Zinc concentrations were not influenced by the motile sperm concentration (r = 0.039). Fru ctose concentrations were found to be negatively correlated with motil e sperm concentration (r = 0.062). We conclude that seminal plasma zin c is an unreliable marker of spermatogenic activity. While there does appear to be a negative correlation between seminal plasma fructose co ncentrations and motile sperm concentration this relationship is far f rom linear. Due to the biochemical complexity of seminal fluid attempt s to perform such simple correlations between seminal plasma component s and andrological parameters are likely to produce inconsistent resul ts and their role in the assessment of sperm function must therefore b e called into question.