Total phospholipid and phospholipid fatty acids of ejaculated and epididymal semen and seminal vesicle fluids of boars.

S PERMATOZOA from the caput, corpus and cauda epididymis and ejaculated sperm were analyzed for their phospholipid and phospholipid fatty acid content. Caput spermatozoa contained 16 and 34% more total phospholipid than sperm from the corpus and cauda epididymis, respectively. Caudal sperm were similar to ejaculated sperm in phospholipid content. Seminal plasma from ejaculated semen collected as sperm rich contained twice the phospbolipid found in whole ejaculate seminal plasma. Caudal epididymal plasma contained 32 times more phospholipid than ejaculated plasma. Unsaturated fatty acids comprised about 70% of the total fatty acids present in ejaculated sperm phospholipid and from 58 to 65% of the fatty acids in epididymal sperm. Docosapentaenoic (22:5co6) and docosahexanoic (22:6) acid were the predominant fatty acids present. Plasma phospholipid from the ejaculated semen contained 50 to 54% unsaturated fatty acids. Palmitic and arachidic acid were predominant in quantity. Seminal vesicle fluid phosphollpid contained three predominant fatty acids, stearic, oleic and linoleic acid, comprising 78% of the total fatty acids present.