Phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance studies of spermatozoa from the boar, ram, goat and bull

1. Phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-NMR) was utilized to examine semen and spermatozoa isolated from boars, rams, goats and bulls. 2. Whole semen was found to contain high but variable levels of glycerylphosphocholine, most of which was located in the seminal plasma rather than in the spermatozoa. 3. Spermatozoa concentrated into a pellet were found to contain resonances for inorganic phosphate, phosphomonoesters including fructose-1,6-bisphosphate and glucose-6-phosphate, and free nucleotide triphosphate peaks. 4. A broad resonance was observed from 30 to -25 ppm which originated partly from nucleotide tri- and diphosphates. 5. No high energy molecules such as phosphoarginine or phosphocreatine which could act as energy shuttles were observed.