The effect of triethylenemelamine on male rat fertility was investigated. Two dose levels were employed. A dose of 0.05 mg./kg. administered intra-peritoneally five times each week for four weeks produced no histologically demonstrable effect on the germinal epithelium; however, it produced sub-fertility or infertility in the treated animals. The infertility was observed to be due to intrauterine death of fetuses in females inseminated by the treated males. There was also an indication that in some cases preimplantation death of the inseminated ova could have occurred. A dose of 0.2 mg./kg. daily for five days produced, in addition to the above-described effect on fertility, a destruc-tion of spermatogonia followed by a maturation depletion of the germinal epithelium. The apparent similarity between the effects of triethylenemelamine and x-irradiation on the germinal cells is discussed.
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Steinberger et al. (1959) studied this question.