New approach in the use of ethan dimethanosulfonate as a sterilizing agent in rats

• Grant number: 17/26789-0
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: July 01, 2018 - June 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Wilma de Grava Kempinas
• Grantee: Wilma de Grava Kempinas
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Ana Flávia Quiarato Lozano ; Cibele dos Santos Borges ; Daisy Maria Favero Salvadori ; Fábio Henrique Fernandes ; Fernando Barbosa Júnior ; Gary Robert Klinefelter ; Vanessa Cristina de Oliveira

Abstract

Surgical castration is the method used in the population control of domestic, experimental and production animals. However, it is not indicated in the control of synanthropic animals. Thus, chemical agents that can promote infertility, are being studied and developed in order to fill this gap. Ethane dimethanesulfonate (EDS) is an alkylating ester that acts directly on Leydig cells promoting transient infertility via intraperitoneal injection. The objective of the present study is to evaluate, for the first time, viability and efficacy in the promotion of infertility/sterility through the inclusion of EDS in food of Wistar rats. For this, the study will be divided in 2 experiments: 1o - to determine the lowest effective dose to be able to induce rat infertility, 2o - to evaluate if the effective dose will promote temporally infertility or sterility after a recovery period, with or without hormonal supplementation. Reproductive parameters will be evaluated, in order to determine the magnitude of the damages caused, as well as toxicological parameters to certify the safety of the proposed treatment. International and national partnerships have already been established for the project realization. There will be the participation of a postdoctoral student, a graduate and undergraduate students. The project is innovative, multi and transdisciplinary, since the results may generate new knowledge on the histophysiology of Leydig cells, as well as toxicological aspects of the alkylating agent EDS. The project is innovative, current and of great relevance, considering the need for new techniques that induce infertility for animal population control, a socioeconomic and public health problem. Depending on the results, there may be an interaction with the technological park, culminating in the commercial production of a stable, inexpensive and environmentally safe chemosterillant. (AU)