A gene which is expressed only in testicular cells various animals, including humans, may be the key to the development of the first male contraceptive.
Over the years, attempts have been made to find this drug. The truth is that it may not have been reversed necessary resources, since there are already several female options and this is not so necessary. But it is clear that shifting the burden of contraception onto the shoulders of women is a mistake. According to this premise, there are many scientists who have tried to find it, but without success.
hormonal options looked promising but no one completed clinical trials. Even those that seemed to have a better future had to be withdrawn due to the observation of serious side effects among the volunteers. In fact, there were even cases suicide.
There have also been attempts to obtain male contraceptives through physical methods. That is, they try to stop the flow of sperm by blocking the vas deferens. In this regard, the most promising option seems to be vasalgel, a thick substance that can reversibly block these ducts. The problem is that you have to enter it right there, and it’s not a very pleasant administration. This and other problems also prevented its sale. Genes are now presented as an excellent alternative, although this new discovery still needs further study.
Genetic male contraceptive
The authors of the study published in Connection with nature talk about the development of a male contraceptive that blocks the Arrdc5 gene, which is expressed only in testicles. But let’s start from the very beginning. What does it mean that it is expressed only in the testicles?
We know that all human genes are found in all cells. However, not all of them are used in the same place. For example, in the eye there are genes necessary for the synthesis of insulin, but they are not needed there, so they will remain switched off. On the other hand, in the pancreas responsible for the synthesis of insulin, these genes are required. For this reason, their information is read and used there. This is what is known as “gene expression”.
Therefore, although Arrdc5 will be in all cells, It is only used in testicles. And this is very good, because by blocking it, there would be no side effects on other organs. It would only be possible to suppress its function related to sperm synthesis.
The authors of the new study from Washington State Universitytried to suppress the expression of this gene in mice. Thus, they got some interesting results. To start, we got 28 percent less sperm. In addition, the ones that were received moved 2.8 times slower ordinary. And if that wasn’t enough 98 percent semen they had abnormalities in their head and midsection that prevented them from fertilizing an egg.
Very interesting benefits
The good part of all this is that when a gene is no longer suppressed, fertility is restored. Therefore, it will be a reversible male contraceptive.
Another interesting point is that, as we have seen, only sperm synthesis. In the case of hormonal variants, based on testosterone, there are many side effects because this hormone has many functions besides being purely reproductive. Therefore, if its synthesis is suppressed, many undesirable effects occur. This will not happen with a drug that inhibits Arrd5.
Finally, this male contraceptive is presented as something very useful due to its ability to act on many species. This, for example, will help birth control in cattle. It might even be useful for some invasive species. However, this is only a hypothesis for the future. At the moment, these researchers are only interested in how human male contraceptive. It certainly looks very promising. Hope this is the last one.
Source: Hiper Textual
