Scientists are now a step closer to developing a safe and reversible method of male contraceptive similar to ‘the pill’.
Scientists from Monash University in Victoria, Australia, along with some British colleagues, have identified two particular proteins that could potentially be blocked in males to stop sperm cells from leaving the testes during ejaculation.
The proteins were blocked in genetically engineered mice rendering them completely infertile, but the scientists found that the mice continued to happily ride like rabbits.
"This concept is indeed a feasible mechanism of producing male contraception," the Australian and British researchers wrote in the journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'.
The idea is that scientists could block these particular proteins in males with a single pill.
When the person is ready to have children, the procedure could then be reversed by simply not taking the pill anymore. While this all sounds like great news, actually creating a male contraceptive pill ready for distribution is an incredibly difficult task.
It only takes a single sperm cell to fertilise a female’s egg, so scientists have to deal with the fact that between 40 million and 1.2 billion sperm cells can be released in a single ejaculation, so there’s a lot that can go wrong. The scientists will also have to be careful that a contraceptive pill won’t damage any of the sperm’s genetic DNA along the way.
While a male contraceptive pill is good news for the lads who don’t want to get the snip it’s also worth pointing out that a contraceptive pill won’t stop you from catching a sexually transmitted disease so do remember to stick a condom in the wallet when you head out.
