A team of American scientists claims to have created a male birth control pill that temporarily reduced fertility in mice. The drug appears to suppress fertility in men for up to two hours, but the effect fades over time. One day later, the ability to conceive seems to be fully recovered.
The results of the mouse study were published Wednesday in the scientific journal Nature. According to the authors, who are already studying prescriptions to apply the drug in humans, the pill could be used “right before sex, only when necessary”. The active ingredient is a soluble inhibitor of adenylyl cyclase, an enzyme involved in cell growth and differentiation.
By inhibiting the action of this enzyme, sperm development and motility were temporarily prevented. Men’s fertility would freeze and sex cells would lose viability to fertilize the female ova. All this apparently without conditioning the sexual behavior of the individual —at least taking into account what happened in the laboratory with the guinea pigs.
According to the results published in the magazine, the effectiveness of the pill remains at levels close to 100% for two hours, drops to 91% in the third hour and, after 24 hours, fertility returns to the normal pattern of the individual. At least in mice, if the pill is taken continuously for six weeks, it does not appear to have a negative impact on health.
Source: Observadora
