一种对小鼠的精子游动有重要意义的蛋白的发现可能引出新的男用或女用避孕药或发现一种新的节育疗法。这种蛋白通过精子尾部的膜形成一个通道。它控制着钙离子的流入,而钙离子则是刺激精子活动的因子。人类都有编码通道的基因,但它仅在精原细胞中启动。这将减少来自任何通道阻塞避孕药的副作用的危险。 The discovery of a protein that is important for mouse sperm mobility may lead to new male or female contraceptives or to discover a new method of birth control. This protein forms a channel through the membrane of the sperm tail. It controls the influx of calcium, which is a factor that stimulates sperm motility. Humans have genes that encode channels, but they are only activated in spermatogonia. This will reduce the risk of obstruction of contraceptive side effects from any channel.