Seminal plasma zinc and magnesium in infertile men.

Levels of zinc and magnesium were estimated in the seminal plasma of 83 men having various infertility problems. There was a wide overlapping of Zn and Mg mean values among the groups of normal and infertile men, a significant reduction in Mg mean value (but not Zn) only in the group with infection of the accessory genital glands, a very high positive correlation between Zn and Mg mean values in all groups, and a high positive correlation between either Zn or Mg and acid phosphatase (but neither fructose nor sperm count and forward progression) in men with infection, but not in the other groups. Measurement of Mg in seminal plasma can, in combination with other parameters of prostatic function, give useful information regarding male infertility problems, particularly in the case of infection of the accessory genital glands.