Male contraceptive
Encyclopedia
Male contraceptives include condom
s, withdrawal
(although medical professionals do not regard this as an effective method of contraception), and vasectomy
. In other animals, castration
is commonly used for contraception. Other forms of male contraception are in various stages of research and development
.
has a failure rate of about 4% per year if used correctly at every act of intercourse.
Dioscorides, ca. 40 A.D., described the contraceptive property of hemp seeds (Cannabis sativa
) and rue
(Ruta graveolens) in De Materia Medica, a text widely used into medieval times. One test in rats (20 milligrams of the 80% ethanol extract) found that these reduced sperm count by more than half. In medieval Persia (and in other traditions as cited) these herbs were used for male contraception, as well as Gossypium herbaceum
(Malvaceae
), Cyperus longus (Cyperaceae
), Vitex pseudonegundo (Verbenaceae
), Chenopodium ambrosioides (Chenopodiaceae
), Aristolochia indica
(Aristolochiaceae
), Punica granatum (Punicaceae), and Sarcostemma acidum (Asclepiadaceae
). However, the compound isolated from Gossypium, as well as other cotton seeds and okra (gossypol
) has been abandoned as for contraceptive use because it was found to cause permanent infertility in ten to twenty percent of users.
In Indian traditional medicine, uses of the neem tree were described in Ayurvedic medicine, by Sushruta and in the Rasarathasamucchaya, Sarangadhara
, Bhavaprakasha and Bhisagya Ratnavali. Held traditionally to have antifertility effects, its leaves were demonstrated to reduce pregnancy rate and litter size in a test of male rats.
In 1995, researchers isolated compounds from a plant used in Chinese herbal medicine called Tripterygium wilfordii
(雷公籐, lei gong teng).
In 2002, researchers fed extracts from the seeds of papaya fruits (Carica papaya) to monkeys. Subsequently, the monkeys had no sperm in their ejaculate. Traditionally used for contraception, papaya seeds had no apparent ill effects on the testes or other organs of rats tested with a long-term treatment.
In 2002, tests were performed on male rat
s using oleanolic acid
, extracted from Eugenia jambolana, a tree in the southern part of Africa
. The tests demonstrated that the chemical was found to reversibly lower the rats' sperm motility without affecting the sperm count.
Heat-based contraception
, dating in concept to the writings of Hippocrates
, involves heating the testicles to prevent the formation of sperm. Requiring the maintenance of testes at 116 °F (46.7 °C) (just below the threshold of pain) for 45 minutes, it is not a widely appealing technique, but a variant employing ultrasound
has been under investigation.
Condom
A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...
s, withdrawal
Coitus interruptus
Coitus interruptus, also known as the rejected sexual intercourse, withdrawal or pull-out method, is a method of birth-control in which a man, during intercourse withdraws his penis from a woman's vagina prior to ejaculation...
(although medical professionals do not regard this as an effective method of contraception), and vasectomy
Vasectomy
Vasectomy is a surgical procedure for male sterilization and/or permanent birth control. During the procedure, the vasa deferentia of a man are severed, and then tied/sealed in a manner such to prevent sperm from entering into the seminal stream...
. In other animals, castration
Castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries.-Humans:...
is commonly used for contraception. Other forms of male contraception are in various stages of research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
.
Traditional methods
The withdrawal methodCoitus interruptus
Coitus interruptus, also known as the rejected sexual intercourse, withdrawal or pull-out method, is a method of birth-control in which a man, during intercourse withdraws his penis from a woman's vagina prior to ejaculation...
has a failure rate of about 4% per year if used correctly at every act of intercourse.
Dioscorides, ca. 40 A.D., described the contraceptive property of hemp seeds (Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa
Cannabis sativa is an annual herbaceous plant in the Cannabaceae family. Humans have cultivated this herb throughout recorded history as a source of industrial fibre, seed oil, food, recreation, spiritual enlightenment and medicine...
) and rue
Rue
Rue is a genus of strongly scented evergreen subshrubs 20–60 cm tall, in the family Rutaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, Macaronesia and southwest Asia. There are perhaps 8 to 40 species in the genus...
(Ruta graveolens) in De Materia Medica, a text widely used into medieval times. One test in rats (20 milligrams of the 80% ethanol extract) found that these reduced sperm count by more than half. In medieval Persia (and in other traditions as cited) these herbs were used for male contraception, as well as Gossypium herbaceum
Gossypium herbaceum
Gossypium herbaceum, also called Levant cotton, is a species of cotton native to the semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa and Arabia where it still grows in the wild as a perennial shrub...
(Malvaceae
Malvaceae
Malvaceae, or the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants containing over 200 genera with close to 2,300 species. Judd & al. Well known members of this family include okra, jute and cacao...
), Cyperus longus (Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae
Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...
), Vitex pseudonegundo (Verbenaceae
Verbenaceae
Verbenaceae, commonly known as the verbena family or vervain family, is a family of mainly tropical flowering plants. It contains trees, shrubs and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell.Recent phylogenetic studies have shown that...
), Chenopodium ambrosioides (Chenopodiaceae
Chenopodiaceae
Chenopodiaceae were a family of flowering plants, also called the Goosefoot Family. They are now included within family Amaranthaceae. The vast majority of Chenopods are weeds, and many are salt and drought tolerant. A few food crops also belong to the family: spinach, beets, chard, quinoa, and...
), Aristolochia indica
Aristolochia indica
Aristolochia indica is a creeper plant found in Kerala in India and also Sri Lanka. This plant is critical to the survival of the Southern Birdwing and Common Birdwing. It reaches a height of several metres on trees and cover the branches with thick foliage. It flowers once a year to produce seeds....
(Aristolochiaceae
Aristolochiaceae
The Aristolochiaceae, or the Birthwort family, are a family of flowering plants with 7 genera and about 400 species belonging to the order Piperales...
), Punica granatum (Punicaceae), and Sarcostemma acidum (Asclepiadaceae
Asclepiadaceae
According to APG II, the Asclepiadaceae is a former plant family now treated as a subfamily in the Apocynaceae...
). However, the compound isolated from Gossypium, as well as other cotton seeds and okra (gossypol
Gossypol
Gossypol is a natural phenol derived from the cotton plant . Gossypol is a phenolic aldehyde that permeates cells and acts as an inhibitor for several dehydrogenase enzymes. It is a yellow pigment....
) has been abandoned as for contraceptive use because it was found to cause permanent infertility in ten to twenty percent of users.
In Indian traditional medicine, uses of the neem tree were described in Ayurvedic medicine, by Sushruta and in the Rasarathasamucchaya, Sarangadhara
Sarangadhara
-1930 film:Sarangadhara is a 1930 silent film directed by Y. V. Rao under the General Pictures Corporation.-1935 Tamil film:Sarangadhara is a 1935 Tamil film directed by V. S. K. Padham under the Lotus Pictures, filmed at Wadia Movietone Studios in Bombay. Starred by Kothamangalam Cheenu and T....
, Bhavaprakasha and Bhisagya Ratnavali. Held traditionally to have antifertility effects, its leaves were demonstrated to reduce pregnancy rate and litter size in a test of male rats.
In 1995, researchers isolated compounds from a plant used in Chinese herbal medicine called Tripterygium wilfordii
Tripterygium wilfordii
Tripterygium wilfordii, or lei gong teng , sometimes called Thunder God Vine, is a vine used in traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of fever, chills, edema and carbuncle...
(雷公籐, lei gong teng).
In 2002, researchers fed extracts from the seeds of papaya fruits (Carica papaya) to monkeys. Subsequently, the monkeys had no sperm in their ejaculate. Traditionally used for contraception, papaya seeds had no apparent ill effects on the testes or other organs of rats tested with a long-term treatment.
In 2002, tests were performed on male rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s using oleanolic acid
Oleanolic acid
Oleanolic acid or oleanic acid is a naturally occurring triterpenoid, widely distributed in food and medicinal plants, related to betulinic acid. It can be found in Phytolacca americana , and Syzygium spp, garlic, etc...
, extracted from Eugenia jambolana, a tree in the southern part of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. The tests demonstrated that the chemical was found to reversibly lower the rats' sperm motility without affecting the sperm count.
Heat-based contraception
Heat-based contraception
An experimental male contraceptive method involves heating the testicles so that they cannot produce sperm. Sperm are best produced at a temperature slightly below body temperature. The muscles around a male's scrotum involuntarily tighten if the man's body temperature drops, and they loosen,...
, dating in concept to the writings of Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
, involves heating the testicles to prevent the formation of sperm. Requiring the maintenance of testes at 116 °F (46.7 °C) (just below the threshold of pain) for 45 minutes, it is not a widely appealing technique, but a variant employing ultrasound
Ultrasound
Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is thus not separated from "normal" sound based on differences in physical properties, only the fact that humans cannot hear it. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is...
has been under investigation.
Pharmaceutical methods
One goal of research is to develop a male oral contraceptive, a male contraceptive that can be taken in pill form by mouth, similar to the existing oral contraceptive pill for women.- Calcium channel blockerCalcium channel blockerA calcium channel blocker is a chemical that disrupts the movement of calcium through calcium channels.CCB drugs devised to target neurons are used as antiepileptics. However, the most widespread clinical usage of calcium channel blockers is to decrease blood pressure in patients with...
s such as nifedipineNifedipineNifedipine is a dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker...
may cause reversible infertility by altering the lipid metabolism of sperm so that they are not able to fertilize an egg. Recent Research at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University show that as of June 2010, such a pill may be five years away. Testing it on mice has been found to be effective, with no side effects.
- A compound that interferes with the vitamin AVitamin AVitamin A is a vitamin that is needed by the retina of the eye in the form of a specific metabolite, the light-absorbing molecule retinal, that is necessary for both low-light and color vision...
pathway has been shown to render male mice sterile for the course of the treatment without affecting libidoLibidoLibido refers to a person's sex drive or desire for sexual activity. The desire for sex is an aspect of a person's sexuality, but varies enormously from one person to another, and it also varies depending on circumstances at a particular time. A person who has extremely frequent or a suddenly...
. Once taken off the compound, the mice continued to make spermSpermThe term sperm is derived from the Greek word sperma and refers to the male reproductive cells. In the types of sexual reproduction known as anisogamy and oogamy, there is a marked difference in the size of the gametes with the smaller one being termed the "male" or sperm cell...
. The mechanism of actionMechanism of actionIn pharmacology, the term mechanism of action refers to the specific biochemical interaction through which a drug substance produces its pharmacological effect...
includes blocking the conversion of vitamin A into its active form retinoic acidRetinoic acidRetinoic acid is a metabolite of vitamin A that mediates the functions of vitamin A required for growth and development. Retinoic acid is required in chordate animals which includes all higher animals from fishes to humans...
which binds to retinoic receptors which is needed to initiate sperm production.
- AdjudinAdjudinAdjudin is a drug which is under development as a potential non-hormonal male contraceptive drug, which acts by blocking the production of sperm in the testes, but without affecting testosterone production...
, a non-toxic analog of lonidamineLonidamineLonidamine is a derivative of indazole-3-carboxylic acid, which for a long time, has been known to inhibit aerobic glycolysis in cancer cells. It seems to enhance aerobic glycolysis in normal cells, but suppress glycolysis in cancer cells. This is most likely through the inhibition of the...
has been shown to cause reversible infertility in rats. The drug disrupts the junctions between nurse cells (Sertoli cells) in the testes and forming spermatids. The sperm are released prematurely and never become functional gametes. A new targeted delivery mechanism has made Adjudin much more effective.
- GamendazoleGamendazoleGamendazole is a novel drug candidate for male contraception. It is a indazole carboxylic acid derived from lonidamine . Gamendazole produced 100% antispermatogenic effects at 25 mg/kg i.p. in rats, whereas 200 mg/kg was fatal for 60% of rats tested. Since gamendazole produced 100% efficacy, it was...
, a derivative of lonidamineLonidamineLonidamine is a derivative of indazole-3-carboxylic acid, which for a long time, has been known to inhibit aerobic glycolysis in cancer cells. It seems to enhance aerobic glycolysis in normal cells, but suppress glycolysis in cancer cells. This is most likely through the inhibition of the...
, shows semi-reversible infertility in rats. The mechanism of action is thought to be disruption of Sertoli cell function, resulting in decreased levels of inhibin BActivin and inhibinActivin and inhibin are two closely related protein complexes that have almost directly opposite biological effects. Activin enhances FSH biosynthesis and secretion, and participates in the regulation of the menstrual cycle...
.
- Multiple male hormonal contraceptive protocols have been developed. One is a combination protocol, involving injections of Depo-Provera to prevent spermatogenesisSpermatogenesisSpermatogenesis is the process by which male primary germ cells undergo division, and produce a number of cells termed spermatogonia, from which the primary spermatocytes are derived. Each primary spermatocyte divides into two secondary spermatocytes, and each secondary spermatocyte into two...
, combined with the topical application of testosteroneTestosteroneTestosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands...
gel to provide hormonal support. Another is a monthly injection of testosterone undecanoate, which recently performed very well in a Phase III trial in China.
- Research has been performed on interference with the maturation of sperm in the epididymisEpididymisThe epididymis is part of the male reproductive system and is present in all male amniotes. It is a narrow, tightly-coiled tube connecting the efferent ducts from the rear of each testicle to its vas deferens. A similar, but probably non-homologous, structure is found in cartilaginous...
.
- PhenoxybenzaminePhenoxybenzaminePhenoxybenzamine is a non-selective, irreversible alpha antagonist.-Uses:It is used in the treatment of hypertension, and specifically that caused by pheochromocytoma...
has been found to block ejaculation, which not only gives it the potential to be an effective contraceptive, but could also lead to much cleaner sex. Studies have found that the quality of the semen is unaffected and the results are reversible by simply discontinuing the treatment.
- SilodosinSilodosinSilodosin is a medication for the symptomatic treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia...
, an α1-adrenoceptor antagonist with high uroselectivity, has been shown to completely block ejaculation in human males while permitting the sensation of orgasm.
- TrestoloneTrestoloneTrestolone is a synthetic androgen as a potential candidate drug for use in hormonal male contraceptive methods. In males, regular administration of sufficient quantities of trestolone induces a state of temporary infertility....
is an anabolic steroid that has been shown to significantly reduce sperm count.
Other techniques
- Reversible inhibition of sperm under guidanceReversible inhibition of sperm under guidanceReversible inhibition of sperm under guidance , formerly referred to as the synthetic polymer styrene maleic anhydride , is the development name of a male contraceptive developed at IIT Kharagpur in India by Dr. Sujoy K Guha. Phase III clinical trials are underway in India, slowed by insufficient...
(RISUG) consists of injecting styrene maleic anhydrideStyrene maleic anhydrideStyrene maleic anhydride, also known as SMA or SMAnh, is a synthetic polymer that is built-up of styrene and maleic anhydride monomers. The monomers are almost perfectly alternating, making it an alternating copolymer. It is formed by a radical polymerization, using an organic peroxide as the...
in dimethyl sulfoxideDimethyl sulfoxideDimethyl sulfoxide is an organosulfur compound with the formula 2SO. This colorless liquid is an important polar aprotic solvent that dissolves both polar and nonpolar compounds and is miscible in a wide range of organic solvents as well as water...
into the vas deferensVas deferensThe vas deferens , also called ductus deferens, , is part of the male anatomy of many vertebrates; they transport sperm from the epididymis in anticipation of ejaculation....
and leads to long lasting sterility. A second injection washes out the substance and restores fertility. , RISUG is in Phase III of human testing in India and has been patented in India, China, Bangladesh and the United States.
- Vas-occlusive contraceptionVas-occlusive contraceptionVas-occlusive contraception is an experimental male contraceptive method that is not yet approved for general use. Proposed methods of vas-occlusive contraception attempt to prevent sperm from traveling down the vasa deferentia...
consists of partially or completely blocking the vas deferensVas deferensThe vas deferens , also called ductus deferens, , is part of the male anatomy of many vertebrates; they transport sperm from the epididymis in anticipation of ejaculation....
, the tubes connecting the epididymisEpididymisThe epididymis is part of the male reproductive system and is present in all male amniotes. It is a narrow, tightly-coiled tube connecting the efferent ducts from the rear of each testicle to its vas deferens. A similar, but probably non-homologous, structure is found in cartilaginous...
to the urethraUrethraIn anatomy, the urethra is a tube that connects the urinary bladder to the genitals for the removal of fluids out of the body. In males, the urethra travels through the penis, and carries semen as well as urine...
. While a vasectomyVasectomyVasectomy is a surgical procedure for male sterilization and/or permanent birth control. During the procedure, the vasa deferentia of a man are severed, and then tied/sealed in a manner such to prevent sperm from entering into the seminal stream...
removes a piece of each vas deferens, the intra vas device (IVD) and other injectable plugs only block the tubes until the devices are removed.
Abandoned research
- MiglustatMiglustatMiglustat is a drug developed by and is used primarily to treat Type 1 Gaucher disease . It is marketed under the trade name Zavesca. Miglustat is an imino sugar , a synthetic analogue of D-glucose and a white to off-white crystalline solid that has a bitter taste...
(Zavesca or NB-DNJ) is a drug approved for treatment of several rare lipid storage disorder diseases. In mice, it provided effective and fully reversible contraception. But it seems this effect was only true for several genetically related strains of laboratory mice. Miglustat showed no contraceptive effect in other mammals.
Further reading
- Male Contraception Information Project
- Male contraceptive trial has 100% success in New Scientist, 6 October 2003.