HORMONAL ANTAGONISM TO THE ANTISPERMATOGENIC EFFECT OF ETHYLENEDIMETHANESULPHONATE IN RATS
in ReproductionFor the most part, the antifertility actions of non-steroidal chemicals in male rats do not appear directly to involve the endocrine system (Jackson, 1970). In this species, administration of ethylenedimethanesulphonate (EDS) is accompanied by a temporary involution of both the ventral prostate and the seminal vesicles (Cooper & Jackson, 1970). This observation naturally led to an investigation of how far the antispermatogenic and antifertility actions of this compound involved the endocrine system, particularly the production and secretion of androgen. Treatment with EDS also inhibits the spermatogenic process in the mouse (Cooper & Jackson, 1970), in Japanese quail (Jones, Kominkova & Jackson, 1972) and in the parasitic worm, Schistosoma mansoni (Davies & Jackson, 1970).
After a single dose of the compound (75 mg/kg intraperitoneally), rats were sterile by Week 2 and remained thus for about 8 weeks
