Benzalkonium Chloride-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Male Fertility Control by Inducing Subfertility in a Murine Model

Abstract The development of nanotechnology has enabled advances in the applications of nanomaterials across several areas of basic and applied science. In reproductive biology, nanomaterial toxicity has been studied to understand how it impacts human and animal fertility. In this scenario, the present study evaluated for the first time the impact of a bilateral intratesticular injection of the nanocomplex (magnetite associated with benzalkonium chloride, Mag-Bc) on the testicular environment and its consequences on male fertility of BALB/c mice. Males treated with the nanocomplex exhibited reduced reproductive performance, with fewer offspring at the end of the experiment. Mag-Bc treatment reduced the testicular mass of the animals after 50 days of treatment without altering the blood perfusion of the organ. The nanocomplex potentiated the emergence of morphological changes in the testicular parenchyma, mainly in the tubular region. The loss of germ cells in the seminiferous epithelium resulted in a reduction in the epithelium height as well as in the tubular diameter. The nanocomplex group exhibited the highest percentage of tubules lacking spermatids, suggesting that the final phase of spermatogenesis was impaired. In addition, the nanocomplex increased the proportion of nonmotile sperm and promoted specific changes in sperm morphophysiology. The intratesticular delivery guaranteed testis-specific effects, which influenced the ultimate number of offspring produced and male fertility rates. Therefore, the results of the current study suggest that the nanobiotechnological approach (Mag-Bc) has the potential to decrease male fertility without evident adverse effects on systemic organs.