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. 2010 Nov 15;13(1):43–52. doi: 10.1038/aja.2010.76

Table 1. Most important lipids present in the human sperm plasma membrane (according to Zalata et al.27 and Sanocka and Kurpisz33).

Component nmol/108 sperm % of total fatty acids %
Phospholipids      
 Choline diacylglycerophospholipid 37.0
 Ethanolamine diacylglycerophospholipid 31.5
 Ethanolamine plasmalogen 20.0
 Sphingomyelin 20.0
 Choline plasmalogen 12.5
Fatty acid composition of phospholipids      
 Saturated fatty acids (SFA)   49.95 of SFA
  Palmitic acid (C16) 105.5 29.73 59.52
  Stearic acid (C18) 35.9 11.35 22.72
 Unsaturated fatty acids (UFA)   50.05 of UFA
  Docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6; ω3) 108.0 21.54 43.04
  Oleic acid (C18:1; ω9) 32.6 9.17 18.32
  Linoleic acid (C18:2; ω6) 23.2 3.91 7.81
  Arachidonic acid (C20:4; ω6) 20.1 2.39 4.77
  Icosatrienoic acid (C20:3; ω6) 14.9 2.71 5.41
Sterols (neutral lipids)      
 Cholesterol 133.0
 Desmosterol 78.5
Glycolipids 6.4