Washed human spermatozoa had an endogenous oxygen uptake of 2.14 +/- 0.17 nmol O2/10(8) spermatozoa/min (mean +/- s.e..m., n = 35) which was stimulated by succinate (Vmax = 9.64 +/- 0.44 nmol O2/10(8) spermatozoa/min) but not by other substrates. The ATP concentration in freshly washed spermatozoa was 12.18 +/- 0.54 (s.e.m.) nmol/10(8) spermatozoa (n = 26) and was maintained for 2 h in the presence of 2 mM-D-glucose but fell to 9.56 +/- 0.73 (s.e.m.) nmol/10(8) spermatozoa (n = 13) in its absence. The presence of 2 microM-antimycin A, 2 microM-rotenone, 0.4 microM-carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone or 8 microM-oligomycin caused the ATP concentration to fall to less than 2 nmol/10(8) spermatozoa but their effect was partly alleviated by 2 mM-glucose. Sodium malonate (5 mM) prevented the stimulation of respiration by succinate but had no effect on the ATP concentration of the spermatozoa or their ability to produce 14CO2 from [U-14C]glucose. The least active of the tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes was 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.4.2) (3.1 +/- 0.6 (s.e.m.) nmol substrate transformed/10(8) spermatozoa/h (n = 4). Cytochrome c oxidase (EC 1.9.3.1) was much less active than in rat spermatozoa (22.3 +/- 6.0 (s.e.m., n = 4) and 615 +/- 87 (n = 4) nmol transformed/10(8) spermatozoa/min). It is concluded that human spermatozoa can obtain ATP by the respiration of endogenous substrate but the substrates and metabolic pathways involved remain obscure.