CONTRACEPTIVE TESTING OF VAGINAL AGENTS IN RABBITS

Development of new vaginal products, such as microbiocides and contrac eptives, requires in vivo testing of their effect on fertility. Rabbit s, unlike smaller laboratory animals such as rats and mice, which inse minate in the uterus, inseminate vaginally and thus are valuable as an imal models for testing vaginal agents for contraceptive effects. Rabb its are inexpensive and easy to handle compared to nonhuman primates, and have frequently been used for testing the effects of vaginal agent s on fertility. We review the pertinent literature and report findings that provide guidance for effectively using and improving the rabbit contraceptive model in testing new vaginal products. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.