Bombard the testicles with ultrasound, gel the vas deferens. Scientists use everything to get men to have contraception.

Author: Gabe Allen

At first glance, COSO looks like a dedicated "bathtub" for Apple Mouse. The bowl-shaped container is the size of a hand, has a smooth surface, is covered with a black-and-white matte coating, a circle of blue light around the edges, and a socket that adapts to modern charging wires. This elegant gadget is the latest birth control tool for men with testicles. The device uses ultrasound to "bomb" the balls, hoping to make the sperm lose its ability to move.

COSO was designed by Rebecca Weiss, a German graduate student, and this work won the top 20 of the James Dyson Award (James Dyson Award) in 2021. Weiss wrote on the award application form: "my partner and I were looking for alternative birth control and found that products for men were absent."

Hormonal birth control, which has been used since the 1960s, has always targeted women's ovaries, while birth control options for the male reproductive system have remained largely unchanged since then. "it's basically condoms, vasectomies and in vitro ejaculation, and of course you think the last one is birth control." "female contraceptive works well, but there are still many women who can't take it or have drug resistance for various reasons," said John Amory, a professor at the University of Washington (University of Washington), birth control researcher and male health expert. This makes the means of contraception between partners very limited. "

According to a new survey by Komo News, since 2005, the federal government has funded only 30 studies on male birth control, compared with more than 500 studies on erectile dysfunction in the same period. Experts advocating male birth control believe that the development of male birth control is an important step towards gender equality and may reduce the probability of unwanted pregnancies, whose global incidence has remained at 40% to 50% for many years.

Aim at the testicles.

A small group of scientists have come up with ways that have not yet been sold on drugstore shelves. In addition to the lack of funding, research that specializes in men's products is often hampered by the complexity of the task at hand. First of all, the sperm count is abnormally abundant.

"Men produce an average of 1000 sperm per second from the age of 13 to the day they die." "interfering with the process of producing one egg a month and producing 1000 sperm per second is not a problem of the same order of magnitude," Emory said. "

COSO is not the only solution. There is also a group of scattered but determined scientists who are trying to explore other creative ways to stand in the way of sperm.

"there is a small group of tenacious researchers who want to see the results, and everyone has their own ideas." Emory said.

Hormone regulation

Hormone regulation is the most common method of birth control for women, but it may also be effective for men. These methods target everyone's greatest desire center: the brain.

Drugs such as DMAU (Dimethandrolone undecanoate) stop the pituitary gland from releasing the chemical precursors necessary for the testicles to produce sperm. Although these drugs can cause some side effects, including headaches, acne and weight gain, they are very similar to those experienced by women in hormonal birth control.

One challenge may be unexpected: because male hormone birth control increases testosterone levels, most professional athletes are banned from using such drugs under current doping regulations. "androgens can make you perform well in sports. When men get more testosterone than they naturally produce, they can increase their muscle mass. " Emory said.

Although the 2016 research accident may have poured cold water on the enthusiasm for hormonal birth control, many researchers are still looking forward to it. Emory and colleagues have developed a gel that can be applied to the upper arm as an alternative to a more invasive method of delivery. A preliminary study says it is promising and that clinical trials are under way.

Gene traceability

In 2011, a team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) identified a human gene that contains the genetic code for a protein critical to sperm motility, which encodes an epididymal protease inhibitor (epididymal protease inhibitor), abbreviated as EPPIN. Over the past decade, researchers have been using a variety of methods to make experimental animals immune to the protein, thereby reducing sperm activity. Their latest generation of methods have been a great success in male macaques.

Although EPPIN immunization has not been tested in humans, animal studies have shown that it may avoid the shortcomings of many other male contraceptives. Because this method does not affect testosterone levels, it avoids the adverse side effects of many hormonal birth control methods. At least in rhesus monkeys, the process is completely reversible.

Block the vas deferens

The vas deferens are a pair of strong ducts that pump sperm from the testicles into the urethra. Since the 1970s, contraceptive researchers have been looking for ways to block the flow of this important reproductive organ.

The latest method is vas deferens gel Vasalgel, which is a trademark product being developed by Revolution Contraceptives Company of the United States. As the name implies, the product is a polymer gel that needs to be injected into the vas deferens to play a role. Although this technique effectively blocks the flow of sperm, whether the process is reversible is still a problem to be solved.

"people worry that if you inject this chemical into your body, it may damage the vas deferens and leave scars. Then it's equivalent to having a vasectomy on your own. " Emory said.

Still, if researchers can find a way to implement birth control without scarring patients, Vasalgel could be a direct and hormone-free method of birth control.

Vitamin A

In 1961, just a year after the mass-consumption contraceptive hit the market, a team of researchers stumbled upon a new synthetic chemical that they hope will provide the same effect as female birth control measures. Toronto Research Chemicals, a Canadian chemical research company, named it WIN 18446, which significantly reduced sperm production in nearly 100 male subjects tested.

Unfortunately, ingestion of WIN 18446 has unintended side effects. A small number of men who participated in the study began to develop palpitations, excessive sweating and retching. Researchers soon realized that there was a strong reaction when drugs were used in combination with alcohol, a drink that most American men were reluctant to give up.

Although WIN18446 was hidden in snow over the next few decades, a group of scientists made a second attempt in 2011. They found that the chemical works by inhibiting the biosynthesis of retinoic acid (vitamin A). Further research may lead to new drugs that have the same function as WIN18446 without causing acute allergies caused by the contents of the cup.

Although research on male birth control has encountered great obstacles, a large number of new studies have shown that these new methods will make a difference in the near future. For many people, especially those women who bear the brunt of birth control and have to endure side effects, the day should have come a long time ago.