Effect of chemical sympathectomy and adrenergic agonists on the fertility of mice

Abstract

Treatment of mice with 6-hydroxydopamine resulted in an 80% reduction in uptake of [ 3H] (±)-metaraminol in mouse oviduct and ovary while fluorescence microscopy indicated that the oviduct and ovary were essentially completely adrenergically denervated. However, 6-hydroxydopamine pretreatment had no effect on the fertility of mice. In normal mice only the long-acting α adrenergic agonist, oxymetazoline, had any significant effect on the fertility of mice and then only at the largest doses used. Methoxamine, salbutamol and isoproterenol all had no significant effect on fertility at the doses used. These findings suggest that the presence of an intact adrenergic innervation is not required for either ovulation or normal fertility in the mouse. The successful use of either a or 3 adrenergic agonists as contraceptive agents would appear to be rather unlikely because of the high doses required to produce any significant effect.