Spectrophotometric phosphate assay in human seminal plasma. A technique for the determination of glycerol-3-phosphorylcholine secretion.

Glycerol-3-phosphorylcholine (GLY-3-PrC) has a role in determining the epididymal environment, but its function is not yet completely clear. This lack of knowledge might be partially due to the limitations of techniques currently employed in the GLY-3-PrC determination. In this paper we have studied and adjusted to human seminal plasma a spectrophotometric assay initially devised for bull and rabbit ejaculates. By means of column-chromatography and solvent extraction the specific interferences (up to 30%) present in human ejaculate, probably due to phosphatidylcholine, were avoided. The technique is precise, simple, cheap and shows GLY-3-PrC recovery higher than 90%.