The biochemical profile of rat testicular tissue as measured by magic angle spinning H-1 NMR spectroscopy

The testis is the principal organ of male fertility, responsible for the pr oduction of spermatozoa and their maturation into sperm. However, the under lying biochemistry of the testis is relatively understudied. The fluidic an d homogeneous nature of the testis makes it an ideal organ for high resolut ion magic angle spinning (MAS) H-1 NMR spectroscopy. In this study we have catalogued the low molecular weight metabolites. The testis contains large amounts of creatine, of which a substantial proportion was shown to be extr acellular using bipolar gradients to measure apparent diffusion coefficient s. The tissue also contained relatively high amounts of uridine. (C) 2000 F ederation of European Biochemical Societies, Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.