Chemosterilization in Male: ‘Past And Present’ in Reproductive Biology

Abstract

The effects of chemosterilizing agents on the testes and sperm production and maturation are much less understood than their effects on the ovaries and oogenesis. It was discovered that sterilising male insects with ionising radiation caused the emergence of chromosome-wide or chromatid-specific dominant lethal mutations, which led to the development of the classical male castration techniques1, 2. It was discovered in those investigations that alterations were not frequently found on spermatozoa, but that they were commonly visible in anomalies during the division of the zygote in the fertilised egg2, 3. Dominant lethal mutation in the screw-worm, Cochliomyia hominivorax, were first discussed vividly by LaChance & Riemann (1964)3 and LaChance & Crystal (1965)4, in the most classic experiments ever conducted. Detailed information on and complications related to dominant lethal mutations in insects caused by irradiation and sterilizing agents have been enumerated by LaChance (1967), who has also incorporated a detailed references containing research that dispensed this arena long before the era when chemosterilizing agents were introduced into the scientific community5.