QUANTITATIVE RELATIONS OF A PROSTATIC COMPONENT (ACID PHOSPHATASE) OF HUMAN SEMINAL FLUID

Abstract

Human seminal fluid contains a very large amt. of acid phosphatase, which is derived from the prostate gland and, when quantitated, affords a measure of the prostatic component of the semen. The enzyme content of 57 ejaculates from 16 normal subjects was detd. by an adaptation of the King and Armstrong method. The acid phosphatase levels in different individuals varied from 700 [plus or minus] 150 units to 3,700 [plus or minus] 500 units pet cc. seminal fluid, the enzyme level in the several ejaculates of any one individual being relatively constant. Acid phosphatase detns. in specimens collected fractionally indicated that the prostate gland liberated its secretion into the seminal fluid early in the process of ejaculation and that the first co. of the ejaculate was composed largely of prostatic fluid. The physiological significance of prostate acid phosphatase was not known but it was likely that" the enzyme was active in inseminated ejaculates.