Sperm stopper. vaccinated monkeys suggests that a new type of male contraceptive is possible.
When the early 1880s vulcanized rubber and the 1930 advent of latex mark the latest advances, we quickly understand the sorry state of male contraceptives. Researchers in this field have tried hard pressed to provide men with other options, but has not had much success. Now a team in the United States and India reported promising preliminary results for its new contraceptive vaccine for men.
reproductive biologist Michael O'Rand of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, manufactured the vaccine after reporting his discovery of a new protein only male in 01. The protein, called Eppin, has been found so far on the surface of sperm cells and elsewhere in the testis and epididymis. Its function is not clear. But O'Rand said that if a man harbored antibodies to this protein, his sperm may malfunction.
O'Rand teamed up with colleagues from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, which hosts a large research center for primates. The researchers injected nine monkeys with human protein Eppin and gave six monkeys a dummy vaccine. Two of the vaccinated monkeys Eppin were discontinued from the study, however, because they do not produce enough antibodies to the protein, a mysterious problem other immunocontraceptives met.
The monkeys booster vaccine every 3 weeks. To test if it worked, men vaccinated spent several days each with three different females during the fertile peak of the menstrual cycle of women. The result: None of the seven vaccinated monkeys managed to impregnate a female. Four of the six control monkeys did. Although aimed the contraceptive effect of the vaccine to be reversible, only five of the seven vaccinated monkeys, some of which received the vaccine for nearly 2 years, recovered their fertility during the study, the group reports in the issue November 12 of science . "It's hard to say" what it means, O'Rand said. "Maybe they recovered two weeks after we leave" test.
"There seems to be a promise," said Ronald Swerdloff, a reproductive endocrinologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Still, "it's just the beginning of the game," with too few monkeys tested, concluding that pan out approach, he adds. O'Rand and his colleagues are now trying to understand how their vaccine disrupts fertility. One possibility is that it leaves the slower sperm.
Related Sites
O'Rand and colleagues Science paper
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