NEW YORK -- A slight genetic defect makes male mice sterile without affecting their libido, suggesting a potential target for a male contraceptive, scientists say.


The goal would be to find a drug that mimics the effect of the mutation, scientists from The Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, say in the February issue of the journal Nature Genetics.


They created a strain of mice with the mutation, which hampers a cell's ability to respond to a certain chemical signal; as a result, the mice don't make sperm.