IV.—The Effects of Triethylenemelamine on the Fertility of Male Mice

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Abstract
Triethylenemelamine induces chromosomal aberrations in Drosophila and in mammals. In the present paper the effects of intraperitoneal injections of the drug on the fertility of male mice are related to its mutagenic activity. Males were given prolonged or short treatment with the drug and were mated to females at frequent intervals.Male fertility was greatly reduced after either treatment, a result similar to previous findings in the rat. Sterility for the first few weeks was due to dominant lethals causing embryonic mortality, and to oligospermia from 30 days after the injection. Embryonic mortality was reduced after lower doses, being maximal between 11 and 14 days after the injection, and little or no oligospermia resulted from this treatment.The drug probably acted directly on spermatogenic cells; spermatids being most sensitive to the induction of lethals and spermatogonia to destruction; these estimates were based on the known rate of spermatogenesis in the mouse. The sensitivity of the stages of spermatogenesis and the translocation frequency induced by the drug have some similarities to the effects of X-rays on the testis.