Scientists recently found a new gene called Arrdc5. It affects sperm size, motion, and shape. A drug targeting the protein of this gene won’t interfere with hormones, making it easy to stop or start whenever needed. This new discovery could result in a very reliable reversible contraceptive for humans and animals!
Scientists from Washington State University discovered a gene called Arrdc5 in the reproductive tissues of mice, pigs, cattle, and humans. When they disrupted this gene in male mice, it caused them to be infertile, leading to fewer and deformed sperm. The details of these findings were released on April 17th in the Nature Communications Journal.
Researchers from Washington State University have found a gene that is only active in male testicles and it works the same way across mammals. If this gene stops working, males won’t be able to make sperm anymore which means they can’t get anyone pregnant. This could help lead to new methods of contraception for males.
Scientists have been focusing on the Arrdc5 gene which is only found in male testes. When this gene is missing, a condition called OAT happens. OAT stands for Oligoasthenoteratospermia and it’s one of the most common reasons why males are infertile. This condition makes sperm decrease in number, move slower, and become deformed. All this makes them unable to fertilise an egg.
A study from WSU found that male mice without a certain gene had 28% less sperm than normal mice and the sperm moved 2.8 times slower too. Plus, almost all of them also had abnormal heads and mid-pieces. This suggests that this gene is important for making healthy sperm! The team researching this will now work on finding a drug to stop it from working so well.
Scientists have discovered a protein in men that can stop sperm production without affecting the testosterone levels. This has been a difficult challenge, because testosterone is important for making bones, muscles and red blood cells. If a drug was created to target this protein it would be easily reversible and so could make an effective contraceptive.
Researchers have come up with a new idea for a male contraceptive. It basically works by temporarily stopping sperm from being made the right way. After that, if you stop taking the medicine, your sperm will start to be made normally again. Scientists Mariana Giassetti and Oatley have even filed a patent for this invention.
Scientists have found a gene that exists across different kinds of mammals, which means it could also be used on animals. They studied DNA and protein sequences in lots of different mammals to find the gene and noticed it was there in almost every animal species. This could mean we can use this gene to make male contraception for creatures like livestock, so we don’t need to castrate them, or when wildlife needs to be kept under control because too many of them exist.
The main goal is to give people control over when or if they have a baby. Women can use different kinds of birth control, but not all types work well or are easy to get. The United Nations says that more than half of all pregnancies that happen around the world were not planned for.
Oatley said that it is vital to figure out a way to control the size of the population and stop unintended pregnancies. At this time, there isn’t much for men when it comes to contraception outside of surgery, and only some men choose vasectomies. If we can come up with something new that works as contraception, it could bring about big changes in the world. (17 April 2023, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37735-y)
This research project was funded by the National Institutes of Health and WSU’s Functional Genomics Initiative, which is a program to help support genetic technology studies.
