HOPES of a male contraceptive with no serious side effects have come a step closer to fulfilment.
Chuen-Yan Cheng at the Center for Biomedical Research in New York City and his colleagues have previously found that a drug called Adjudin blocked fertility in male rats by disrupting the interaction between the germ cells that produce sperm and the Sertoli cells that nurture their development. But when given to rats orally, Adjudin caused liver inflammation and muscle deterioration. “Even though it was very effective, we couldn’t make use of it,” says Cheng.
His team has now coupled Adjudin to a mutant…
