title: Adenosine triphosphate and motility characteristics of fresh and cryopreserved human spermatozoa.
abstract: The concentration of ATP and the motility of human spermatozoa was measured in fresh and cryopreserved cells from the same 15 ejaculates. No coherent picture of the relationship between motility and ATP concentration emerged in whole semen or in spermatozoa washed by repeated centrifugation and resuspension in Biggers Whitten and Whittingham medium. This may have been due to the presence of dead spermatozoa and contaminating cells. After preparation on a Percoll gradient, the ATP concentration in fresh and cryopreserved spermatozoa was the same (6 +/- 0.7 nmol/10(8) spermatozoa) but 85 +/- 2.5% of the fresh spermatozoa were progressively motile with an average path velocity of 55 +/- 3.5 microns/s compared to corresponding values of 33 +/- 5.3% and 44 +/- 3.4 microns/s in frozen/thawed spermatozoa. This suggests that the poor motility of cryopreserved spermatozoa does not result from deficient ATP production. No relationship was found between ATP concentration and the ability of motile spermatozoa in the ejaculate to survive freezing.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St Michael's Hospital, Bristol, U.K.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Hull
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism*; D015925:Cryopreservation; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D012662:Semen Preservation; D013081:Sperm Motility
chemical_list: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate