Decrease of seminolipid content in the testes of rats with vitamin A deficiency determined by high performance liquid chromatography.

Changes of seminolipid content in vitamin A-deficient rat testes were quantitatively determined by improved and facile high performance liquid chromatography using a reversed phase column under an ion pair chromatographical condition. The seminolipid content of the testes of rats fed a vitamin A-deficient diet for 46 days decreased to 13% of that of the control rats fed a vitamin A-deficient for 20 days and then supplemented with 140 microgram/rat/day of vitamin A palmitate for 26 days. Total lipid, phospholipid and DNA of vitamin A-deficient rats were slightly reduced. Histological examinations showed that seminiferous tubular cells degenerated to aspermatogenesis with a vitamin A-deficient diet. The remarkable reduction of seminolipid content, compared to the slight decrease of DNA content, is considered to be the result of damage to the seminiferous tubular elements, especially at the differentiated step of germinal cells from spermatogonia to the next. These results further support the theory that seminolipid biosynthesis is characterized by strict dependence on the differentiation of seminiferous tubular cells or spermatogenesis.