Toxicity of a male contraceptive, gossypol, in mammalian cell cultures.

Gossypol, a substance extracted from cotton plants, is a potential male contraceptive. Although human users reported only mild or no side effects, our study found gossypol to be cytotoxic to cultured mammalian cells. A dose dependent decrease in the number of viable cells and mitotic index was demonstrated with both Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and human lymphocytes after the cultures received treatment of gossypol for various durations. Cellular DNA, RNA, and protein synthetic activities were reduced in the presence of gossypol. However, gossypol did not seem to induce chromosome breakage or polyploidy.