CENTER FOR DEVELOPMENT OF ANTI-SPERM CONTRACEPTIVES

描述(申请人提供)：本中心的重点是配子作为一个 避孕目标。近年来，在基因组学和蛋白质组学、细胞生物学、受精研究和药物发现方面取得了显著进展。这些进展结合在一起，为针对配子的避孕干预打开了新的可能性，这可能是以前想象过的，但却是无法实现的。 我们的大多数项目都是以精子为目标的，但有一个项目提出了一个潜在的卵子目标。抗精子避孕可能会阻碍精子功能或精子发育。我们中心的项目包括这两个目标。该中心的一个主要主题是阻止精子功能的小分子抑制剂。我们中心正在积极研究精子质膜蛋白在精子-卵子相互作用中的作用，我们建议筛选抑制这些精子蛋白从而阻止受精的小分子。 第二个主题是阻止精子发育。新的药理策略脱轨 本文提出了复杂的精子产生过程。我们所有研究精子发育的人都知道精子发生方面的重要进展，并意识到正在确定新的、可行的避孕目标。因此，我们建议扩大我们在精子发生方面的目标清单，增加我们开发新的节育产品的范围和机会。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The focus of this Center is the gamete as a contraceptive target. Remarkable advances have occurred recently in genomics and proteomics, cell biology, fertilization research and drug discovery. These advances have combined to open new possibilities for contraceptive intervention, directed against gametes, that may have been previously imagined but were unattainable. Most of our projects target sperm, though one project proposes a potential egg target. Anti-sperm contraception can block sperm function or sperm development. Our Center's projects include both targets. A major theme of the Center is small molecule inhibitors to block sperm function. Our Center is actively studying sperm plasma membrane proteins that function in sperm-egg interaction and we propose screens for small molecules that inhibit these sperm proteins and thus prevent fertilization. A second theme is to block sperm development. Novel pharmacological strategies to derail the complex process of sperm production are proposed here. All of us who study sperm development are aware of important advances in spermatogenesis and realize that new, feasible contraceptive targets are being identified. Thus, we have proposed an expansion of our target list in spermatogenesis, increasing our scope and chances of developing new products for birth control.