Sperm Toolbox-A selection of small molecules to study human spermatozoa

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Biology
• Pharmacology
• Drug Discovery

Background:

• Limited innovation in male contraceptives and infertility treatments necessitates new drug development.
• Existing methods primarily focus on medically assisted reproduction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a small molecule library (Sperm Toolbox) for assay development and screening.
• To accelerate the discovery of drugs that modulate human sperm function for fertility control.

Main Methods:

• Profiling compounds using automated high-throughput assays measuring sperm motility and acrosome reaction.
• Assessing sperm function under non-capacitating and capacitating conditions.
• Evaluating cell viability to ensure specificity of compound effects.

Main Results:

• Generated compound fingerprints detailing effects on sperm motility and acrosome reaction.
• Quantitative comparisons of compound effects across complementary functional assays.
• Data integrated into an online R-based application for querying.

Conclusions:

• The Sperm Toolbox provides a valuable resource for identifying novel targets and compounds for male reproductive health.
• Systematic profiling enables efficient screening for potential male contraceptives and fertility enhancers.