THE APPLICATION OF THE DIFFERENTIAL PH METHOD TO THE BIOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF SEMINAL PLASMA

Objective: To apply the differential pH method to the biochemical eval uation of seminal plasma. Design and Methods: Fructose, citric acid an d free L-carnitine concentration in human seminal plasma were measured by the differential pH method. These are routinely taken as markers o f seminal vesicle, prostate and epididymal function, respectively. The pH differential method was then compared with standard spectrophotome try. Results: The linearity, recovery and imprecision calculation for each assay were found to be reliable and the method correlated well wi th the reference spectrophotometric technique. In addition, the pH dif ferential method showed certain advantages compared to spectrophotomet ry: a) speed of procedure (40 to 120 sec/assay); b) ability to measure the analytes even in small volumes of seminal plasma (10 mu L to 50 m u L) without deproteinization or dilution, thus eliminating manual ope rations. Conclusions: The differential pH method is an innovative appr oach to the biochemical assessment of seminal plasma.