A highly sensitive chemiluminescent assay for glycerylphosphorylcholine in human seminal plasma.
Glycerylphosphorylcholine (GPC), one of the major phosphorus-containing-choline compounds of seminal plasma, is secreted mainly by the epididymal epithelium under androgenic control. This study reports a new method that uses chemiluminescence to determine seminal GPC content, comparing it with a spectrophotometric technique. The results, obtained with both techniques studying 20 fertile patients (as control), 35 infertile patients with normospermia, 23 infertile patients with oligozoospermia and impaired motility and 9 patients with excretory azoospermia, demonstrate that the GPC chemiluminescent assay is more sensitive, simple and rapid than the spectrophotometric assay. Our data confirm that GPC may be used as a marker of vas deferens and ejaculatory duct perviousness, suggesting a possible role of this glycerophosphodiester in sperm motility.
Pacifici
R
R
Clinical Biochemistry Department, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Dondero
F
F
Giovenco
P
P
Pichini
S
S
Zuccaro
P
P
D005997:Glycerylphosphorylcholine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000378:metabolism; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis
D005997:Glycerylphosphorylcholine