Chloroquine reduces fertilizing capacity of epididyma sperm in rats.

Chloroquine diphosphate was administered intraperioneally to two groups of adult male rats at two dosage levels of 5 mg base/kg body weight and 10 mg base/kg body weight. The drug was administered over a period of fourteen days. Fertilizing ability of epididymal sperm was assessed in the rats by cohabitation with normal cycle female rats and foetal size was noted. Epididymal spermatozoa were counted in these groups of rats. Chloroquine effected a dose-related reduction in fertility of the male rats as evidenced by a reduction in average number of foetuses of cohabited females, although the sperm count in the groups was not significantly different. This suggest that the drug does play an inhibitory role in sperm function.

Testicular germ cell populations in the adult rat after continuous in-vivo testicular infusion of inhibin-A and activin-A.

This study investigated the in-vivo effects of inhibin-A and activin-A on germ cell subpopulations in the adult rat testis. Each animal received a total of 2 micrograms (dose 5 ng/0.5 microliter/h) of activin, inhibin or 0.1% bovine serum albumin (vehicle control) delivered intratesticularly into the left testis via a cannula connected to an abdominal minipump implant. To establish whether the hormones exerted any effect on procarbazine-induced germ cell depletion, a single intraperitoneal dose of this agent was given to a group of the rats 24 h after the start of testicular infusion of activin or inhibin. Rats were killed 14 days later. Inhibin treatment caused a reduction in the number of round spermatids without altering serum FSH levels. In procarbazine-treated rats, infusion of inhibin reduced the number of pachytene spermatocytes and reduced blood FSH levels simultaneously. Infusion of activin had no significant effect on the numbers of germ cells, but reduced the number of dead cells in the seminiferous tubules of procarbazine-treated rats. The data would therefore suggest that the effects of inhibin and activin on the seminiferous epithelium are influenced by the testicular microenvironment, and that they are capable of influencing the growth and survival of germ cells by both FSH- and non FSH-mediated mechanisms. Further experiments are needed to identify the physiological role(s) of inhibin and activin in spermatogenesis.

Chloroquine excretion in semen following antimalarial-drug administration.

The study described here was carried out to establish whether or not chloroquine was excreted in semen. Chloroquine was assayed in the semen of eight male volunteers (aged between 19 and 45 years) by a fluorimetric method before and after taking a total dose of 1.500 mg chloroquine base corresponding to the accepted dosage of the drug in malarial chemotherapy. Mean pre- and post-drug administration levels of 0.7 +/- 0.2 microM and 5.7 +/- 0.6 microM were obtained respectively, indicating a significant excretion of chloroquine in semen.