Mouse Study Hints at New ‘Male Contraceptive’

A discovery in mice may pave the thanks to a reversible, non-hormonal variety of contraception for men, researchers report.

The findings, revealed on-line October. one within the journal Science, raise efforts to develop the elusive “male pill” — that's, a reliable however temporary variety of birth control for men.

“It is vital that we discover a good and reversible contraceptive choice to enable men additional management over their own procreative futures,” aforementioned Masahito Ikawa, the lead man of science on the new study.

“The findings of this study could also be a key step to giving men that management,” aforementioned Ikawa, a prof at urban center University’s analysis Institute for microorganism Diseases in Japan.

The results area unit supported male mice, and results of animal studies don’t forever apply to humans. however Ikawa’s team was able to render the animals barren — quickly — by obstruction a selected macromolecule that's conjointly gift in human spermatozoon.

The macromolecule is named calcineurin. Researchers had suspected that it plays a crucial role in male fertility, however the macromolecule exists in numerous forms, and it hadn’t been clear that type would possibly have an effect on fertility.

For the study, Ikawa’s team initial checked out the results of “knocking out” 2 genes believed to exist solely in calcineurin in spermatozoon. The researchers found that obstruction the genes resulted in less-flexible spermatozoon that would not fertilize eggs.

The researchers then turned to 2 existing medication — cyclosporine A and tacrolimus (also referred to as FK506) — that area unit renowned to inhibit calcineurin. once they treated the mice with the medication, it took four to 5 days to render the animals’ spermatozoon barren.

A week once the medication were stopped, however, fertility came back.

Cyclosporine and tacrolimus each suppress the system, and they’re wont to stop organ rejection and treat bound response diseases. nobody is suggesting they be used as a male contraceptive, Ikawa said.

Instead, he explained, the goal is to develop a drug that specifically targets the calcineurin in spermatozoon.

Right now, the sole ways of contraception for men area unit surgical surgical contraception — that is extremely effective, however typically permanent — and condoms, which may be unreliable.

Dr. patriarch Morgentaler, a member of the board of administrators for the yank Sexual Health Association, said, “There could be a nice want for a male contraceptive that doesn't involve minor surgical procedures or condoms.”

That need could also be even larger in bound countries outside the u.  s., wherever population could be a major problem, Morgentaler aforementioned.

Another skilled united. “Existing male contraceptives don’t likened to filling the necessity,” aforementioned Aaron Hamlin, decision maker of the Male birth control Initiative, in Washington, D.C.

“Condoms have a real-world annual physiological state rate of eighteen p.c — a couple of dice roll for the common person,” Hamlin aforementioned.

Women, of course, have reversible contraception choices — together with the pill, intrauterine devices and contraceptive implants. however men want choices, too, Hamlin aforementioned.

“There’s this unfortunate story that birth control is forever the woman’s responsibility,” Hamlin aforementioned. “But before the pill hit the market in 1960, male condoms were the most variety of birth control.”

He pointed to a recent study that found that half U.S. men aforementioned they might use a secretion contraceptive if one were accessible.

If a drug supported this new approach makes it to human trials, Hamlin aforementioned, it might have the advantage of being non-hormonal, which could “sidestep” some potential aspect effects.

There area unit already some male contraceptives additional on in development, Hamlin discerned. One is Vasalgel, a gel injected into a man’s epithelial duct — the tube that transports spermatozoon. The hope is it'll provide a reversible, surgery-free different to surgical contraception. Early human trials area unit expected to start out next year, Hamlin aforementioned.

Another is gendarussa, associate degree seasoner medication that inhibits a key accelerator in spermatozoon. it's shown promise in early trials.

There area unit forever obstacles to moving potential contraceptives into massive clinical trials, Hamlin aforementioned. With a contraceptive, which might run to healthy individuals, the “tolerance” for aspect effects is extremely low.

The biggest obstacle, though, is money, Hamlin aforementioned.