New possibilities for male contraception Researchers near effective and safe solution

Company introduce revolutionary male contraception implant

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Would you be in favour of men having more control over their reproductive rights – no matter your gender? Research, reported by the American Chemical Society, could be onto something groundbreaking. Scientists are now moving towards “a safe, long-lasting, and reversible male contraceptive” using magnets. 

It’s known in the scientific community that elevated temperature isn’t favourable for sperm production, hence why the testes hang outside of the body.

Utilising this knowledge, prior research focused on “intense heating of nanomaterials” that were injected into the testes as a form of birth control.

This approach tended to be painful and damaging to the skin; plus, the nano materials weren’t biodegradable.

As with any research area, trial and error is to be expected; this moved Weihua Ding, Fei Sun and their colleagues on to a better technique.

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The researchers tested two forms of iron oxide nanoparticles (which are biodegradable) that can be guided and heated with magnetic fields.

One type of nanoparticle was coated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and the other with citric acid.

PEG-coated nanoparticles could be heated to higher temperatures, but they weren’t as easily manipulated by magnets as the citric acid nanoparticles.

Before trials can be done on human participants, animal models are required to go first.

For their experiment, they injected repeated doses of citric acid-coated nanoparticles into the bloodstream of mice for two days.

The citric acid-covered nanoparticles were then directed to the testes with magnets.

Once the nanoparticles were in the testes, an “alternative magnetic field” was applied to the area for 15 minutes.

“The nanoparticles heated the testes to a temperature of 104 degrees F,” the research paper detailed.

This shrunk the testes and inhibited “spermatogenesis” for around 30 days; there after, sperm production made a gradual recovery.

“The mice couldn’t father any pups seven days after treatment, but they were back to fathering about 12 pups per pregnant female at day 60,” the researchers noted.

The nanoparticles were described as “non-toxic to cells” and they were gradually eliminated from the body.

Such revolutionary research offers new possibilities for male contraception in the future.

This is clearly a growing field of interest, which is likely to receive more funding.

As more scientists focus on the creation and testing of male contraceptives, men will one day have more viable options when it comes to birth control.

The progression of this research field is gaining pace, so male contraceptive options may be introduced to the market sooner than expected.

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