SBIR Phase I: Safe and effective injectable alternative to surgical spays in female dogs

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的广泛影响将使雌性狗、它们的主人、收容所和兽医受益，因为它开发了一种单注射绝育剂，消除了雌性狗和照顾它们的人手术绝育的负担。几十年来，科学家们一直在努力开发一种负担得起的非手术消毒方案。然而，迄今为止的努力都没有成功，手术绝育仍然是雌性动物绝育的唯一选择。目前，绝育是一种侵入性的外科手术，需要切除健康动物的生殖器官，对狗狗来说风险很大，身体上要付出很大的代价，对主人来说经济和情感上要付出代价，对兽医来说时间上要付出代价，对收容所来说经济上也要付出很大的代价。由于高成本和手术相关感染或死亡的风险使得手术喷雾难以控制，由于人口过剩，收容所每年被迫对数百万只狗实施安乐死。通过非手术、廉价和快速的绝育，更多的母狗将在进入青春期之前绝育，缓解了人口过剩的压力，并大大降低了手术的发病率和死亡率。拟议中的项目寻求用一种注射绝育剂取代对母狗的手术绝育，这种注射绝育剂旨在诱导永久性绝育，并在大鼠身上进行了试验。该项目将确定在啮齿动物物种中观察到的生殖抑制是否也适用于狗。具体来说，目标是确定有效和安全的剂量范围和时间窗口。将仔细跟踪这些动物进行健康和安全评估，并测量雌性生殖结果。如果成功，该项目将表明可以在不诉诸侵入性物理手术的情况下对母狗进行绝育。一项试点研究也将在雄性狗身上进行，以确定抑制睾丸发育成熟的最佳剂量，从而抑制青春期的生育能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will benefit female dogs, their owners, shelters, and veterinarians with the development of a single-injection sterilant, eliminating the burden of surgical sterilization for female dogs and those that care for them. Scientists have worked for decades to develop an affordable non-surgical sterilization solution. However, efforts to date have been unsuccessful, and surgical spaying remains as the sole option available for sterilizing female animals. At present, sterilization is an invasive surgical procedure that requires the removal of a healthy animal’s reproductive organs at great risk and physical cost to the dog, financial and emotional cost to the owner, time cost to the veterinarian, and significant financial cost to shelters. Because the high cost and the risk of developing surgery-related infection or death makes surgical spays unmanageable, shelters are forced to euthanize millions of dogs each year due to overpopulation. By making spays non-surgical, inexpensive, and quick, more female dogs will be sterilized before reaching puberty, relieving the strain of overpopulation and dramatically reducing surgical morbidity and mortality. The proposed project seeks to replace surgical sterilization for female dogs with a single injection sterilant designed to induce permanent sterility and tested in rats. This project will determine whether reproductive inhibition observed in rodent species will be translatable to the dog. Specifically, the goal is to identify effective and safe dosage range and temporal window. The animals will be carefully followed for health and safety assessments and female reproductive outcomes will be measured. If successful, this project will indicate that sterilization can be achieved in female dogs without resorting to invasive physical surgery. A pilot study will also be performed in male dogs to determine an optimal dose that will inhibit developmental maturation of the testis and thus inhibit fertility at puberty.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.