Sperm motility plays a major role in male fertility
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Compounds that block sperm movement are expected to have a reversible effect as a form of contraception in mice.
Men’s contraceptive options are limited to condoms or vasectomies. “We need more options,” he said. Martin Matuk At Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.
Now, he and his colleagues have identified a new target: a protein expressed by the gene. STK33 It is found in high concentrations in the testes of mice and humans.
“Without the STK33 protein, mouse and human sperm have very abnormal sperm tails and are motility impaired,” Matsuku said. Mice and humans are STK33 Genes are infertile This is caused by abnormal sperm morphology.
To identify compounds that could bind to the STK33 protein and inhibit its activity, the team scoured libraries containing billions of chemicals looking for suitable molecules, eventually finding a candidate they called CDD-2807.
The researchers then injected six male mice with CDD-2807 twice a day for 21 days, and seven other male mice with injections once a day for the same period. After three weeks, the researchers housed all the male mice with female mice and continued to treat them for about another 40 days.
By the end of 40 days, only one female mouse from both groups had become pregnant. That mouse only gave birth to one pup, whereas a single mouse litter can usually produce up to six pups. This indicates that the treatment still reduced fertility. No side effects were recorded. Three weeks after stopping the treatment, the researchers found that the mice’s fertility had been restored and they were able to reproduce normally.
Matsuku says he now hopes to test the oral treatment in primates.
Jochen Back Researchers at Cornell University in New York say the paper is “very solid,” but they also suggest that an unapproved gel called NES/T, which contains synthetic progesterone and testosterone, may work faster than targeting STK33. It targets a protein called retinoic acid receptor alpha.is involved in sperm production, he says.
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Source: www.newscientist.com
