Abstract:
Each year there are tens of millions of unplanned pregnancies and subsequent abortions worldwide. The WHO, NIH and IOM
have identified the need for the development of an effective reversible male contraceptive agent. With that goal in mind, we set out first to develop a new simpler and more cost effective method of evaluating potential male contraceptive agents and secondly to test the efficacy of one such potential male contraceptive agent. N-butyldeoxynojirimycin (NB-DNJ) has been proposed in published research to be an orally available reversible male contraceptive agent as a disruptor of sperm
acrosome development. We tested NB-DNJ for efficacy in rats by oral lavage once daily over a three week period at 15 mg/kg/day. Rats were weighed daily and testis weight was determined at the time of sacrifice. Testis sections and semen smears were processed for acrosomal and nuclear staining using FITC-peanut agglutinin and DAPI fluorescence. Our results demonstrated a partial inhibition of acrosome development. Some animals showed no inhibition of acrosome development,
while others had mixed populations of 1) tubules with only early round spermatid acrosomal features, 2) normal elongated
nuclei but lacking acrosomes, and 3) normal elongated nuclei and acrosomes. Prior research had shown a complete inhibition
of sperm maturation while our research showed minimal signs of inhibition at a similar dose level. Although both studies used the same daily dose, the major difference was that NB-DNJ was mixed in the rat’s food instead of the single daily oral dose that we employed. Our research brings up important questions regarding acceptable administration methods for screening of
potential male contraceptive agents.
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