C. Orlando et al., SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENT OF SPERM LDH, LDH-X, CPK ACTIVITIES AND ATP CONTENT IN NORMOSPERMIC AND OLIGOZOOSPERMIC MEN, International journal of andrology, 17(1), 1994, pp. 13-18
Total lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), LDH-X, creatine phosphokinase (CPK)
activities and ATP content were measured in washed spermatozoa from 1
88 normospermic and 94 oligozoospermic men. These four biochemical par
ameters were significantly higher (p<0.001) in spermatozoa from oligoz
oospermic men than in those from normospermic men and were related inv
ersely to sperm concentration. In oligozoospermic men the activity of
sperm LDH and LDH-X was related significantly to sperm CPK activity (r
= 0.5486 and r = 0.4442, respectively), whereas this relationship was
less evident in normospermic men (r = 0.4124 and r = 0.3844, respecti
vely). Sperm ATP content was related weakly to sperm LDH, LDH-X and CP
K activities both in oligozoospermic and normospermic men. After separ
ation on a discontinuous (40% and 80%) Percoll gradient LDH, LDH-X, CP
K activities and ATP content in 80% separated sperm fractions from 48
normospermic and 30 oligozoospermic men were found to be significantly
lower than in the initial semen sample in both groups of subjects. Th
e 80% separated sperm fractions from oligozoospermic and normospermic
men did not differ in their LDH or LDH-X activities or ATP content, wh
ereas sperm CPK activity was still significantly higher in oligozoospe
rmic men. These data suggest that, of the four parameters studied, hig
h levels of intracellular CPK activity are the most relevant biochemic
al feature of spermatozoa from oligozoospermic men.