Andrology: Effects of sperm activity on zinc and fructose concentrations in seminal plasma

Abstract

Attempts to correlate zinc and fructose concentrations in seminal plasma with andrological parameters have produced inconsistent results. To assess further this relationship, a prospective study was performed measuring zinc and fructose concentrations in seminal plasma in 1178 patients referred for fertility treatment. Seminal analysis was performed with biochemical measurements of seminal zinc and fructose. The main outcome measures were the correlation between motile sperm concentration and seminal zinc and fructose concentrations. Zinc concentrations were not influenced by the motile sperm concentration (r = 0.039). Fructose concentrations were found to be negatively correlated with motile sperm concentration (r = 0.062). We conclude that seminal plasma zinc is an unreliable marker of spermatogenic activity. While there does appear to be a negative correlation between seminal plasma fructose concentrations and motile sperm concentration this relationship is far from linear. Due to the biochemical complexity of seminal fluid attempts to perform such simple correlations between seminal plasma components and andrological parameters are likely to produce inconsistent results and their role in the assessment of sperm function must therefore be called into question.