Male contraceptive works ‘on demand’ in animal test

A study published in the United States by researchers at the Weill Cornell Medical research center in New York reports the development of an on-demand birth control method for men. The male pill taken a few minutes before sex temporarily stops sperm motility and prevents pregnancy.

Preclinical testing (on animals) was successfully performed. The paper containing the results was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

In a statement from the Cornell University research unit, study co-authors Jochen Buck and Lonny Levin described the discovery as a “game changer” for human birth control. They remember that the only male options were old condoms and vasectomies.

Interestingly, the research’s initial proposal was not to invent a male contraceptive, but rather a challenge from Levin; He didn’t know why. So Busk isolated the sAC.

How was the new birth control method discovered?

A chance discovery in 2018 brought new insights to SAC. Scientist Melanie Balbach, a colleague of the doctors at Weill Cornell, was working on protein inhibitors for the treatment of an eye condition in her research and noticed that the mice that suppressed sAC began to produce sperm that did not progress.

With certainty that the mice lacking the gene encoding sAC became sterile but remained healthy, the authors of the study on the male contraceptive were able to show that a single dose of a protein inhibitor called TDI-11861 was able to immobilize the rodent. spermatozoa up to two and a half hours after mating, an effect that persists in females.

sAC protein inhibitor tests

To prove their hypothesis, the researchers mated TDI-11861-treated male mice with females. Mating occurred normally, but after 52 different mating attempts, none of them became pregnant. Rodents treated with an inert substance (placebo) got almost a third of their mates pregnant.

After being “frozen” for about two and a half hours, the spermatozoa began to regain their motility after three hours, and within 24 hours their motility was back to normal. Levin says the team is currently working on adapting sAC inhibitors to humans.