Health & Medicine - Posted by Leslie Lang-UNC on Friday, May 14, 2010 15:41 - 6 Comments
Male contraceptive that comes with a zap!

Researchers are testing the use of therapeutic ultrasound to develop completely reversible, long-term male contraception. The image above shows test results on rats. The seminiferous tubule on the left is from a testis that was not treated with ultrasound while the tubule on the right is from a testis after the ultrasound treatment. (Credit: UNC)
UNC CHAPEL HILL (US)—Some might call it the Holy Grail of reproductive science: developing a long-term, inexpensive, completely reversible, and nonhormonal male contraceptive.
That’s exactly what two scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have set out to accomplish. Their approach involves using ultrasound from therapeutic instruments commonly found in sports medicine and physical therapy clinics.
Early test results show that they successfully depleted testicular sperm in laboratory rats using the ultrasound method.
Their ongoing effort, aimed at further fine-tuning this technique for maximum effect and safety, could provide men with six months of reliable contraception from a single round of treatment.
The male testis is composed of many tubes called “seminiferous tubules.” As seen in the image above, the tubule from the control testis has many darkly stained germ cell nuclei. Most germ cell nuclei are round; the long, thin nuclei closest to the center of the tubule belong to germ cells called spermatids, which are released as testicular sperm.
In contrast, the ultrasound-treated tubule is completely lacking testicular sperm and has lost almost all immature germ cells, decreasing its overall diameter while greatly increasing the amount of “empty” space in the center of the tubule.
“Once the testis has stopped producing sperm and all ’sperm reserves’ have been depleted, it is impossible to be fertile,” says James Tsuruta, assistant professor in UNC’s Laboratories for Reproductive Biology.
He says their project “will determine the appropriate ultrasound treatment to temporarily interrupt the supply of testicular sperm yet allow the testis to regenerate itself from the germ cells remaining after treatment.”
The work is being supported by a Grand Challenges Exploration grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
More health news from UNC: www.unchealthcare.org/site/newsroom
6 Comments
Mike Johnson
Mike, Mike, ye of little faith. On the other hand, if you are infertile and your wife is pregnant you may have a good case in divorce court.
Mike Johnson
Steve, Steve,
Your life is still ruined :-) First ask your wife for a paternity test – That will work nicely. Now you are in divorce court yes or no because you do not trust her. Now you are homeless but right! Actually I know a guy who had a vasectomy and his wife got pregnant with a college student and now he has 4 kids instead of three. The student was 12 years younger than the wife but the husband elected to raise the baby or lose his own home and children.
Given the average age of marriage most people are VERY experienced sexually – why would they stop wanting new adventures – old age?
Hurricane
Mike; the point is to make sure that MEN cannot IMPREGNATE women they have sex with. This negates the age old complaints that men hate using condoms and that women trap men into relationships by getting themselves pregnant.
Once a safe simple technique has been developed it will dwarf Viagra in profitability to any biomed corp capable of perfecting it.
Mike Johnson
Hurricane:
You are right if the greatest threat is getting nailed financially in a casual relationship. If you are married formally or Common Law your life is still wrecked with the pregnancy. I am not sure you could reliably escape child support and perhaps not alimony with no fault divorce. Check your jurisdiction here :-).
The Judge does not “discover” responsibility the Judge ASSIGNS responsibility. Reality has little to do with it. If the Judge declares that the child is a legitimate child of the marriage then the support obligation is yours even if DNA does not prove paternity. Since only castration is 100% you will still have to get a lawyer and do the drill. A great case would be where the woman became pregnant via AI at a clinic so adultery would not be an issue.
So, sure, choose a form of sterilization you are comfortable with and never live under the same roof with a woman in any form of cohabitation and, hopefully, you terminate all sexual relationships no matter how good at 60 days. Go mark the calendar 60 days ahead of the first intercourse then terminate on that day. Keep it a secret of course and always lie about being interested in marriage.
Sterilization is good but not enough, you need a 3 part strategy. No seed, no living together and all done in 60 days.
I heard from my friend he and her wife they once seek an advice to a doctor..they really want to have a baby, they was advice that it’s not all sexual intercourse can produce a positive result (baby). It also depends on the condition and health of the male and female..mostly if both are really stress or fatigue the semen is not active, or cannot get to pregnancy. Also, intercourse must be made in alternate days to produce a very fertile semen. I guess this is true. What you think?



















I find this type of thinking so strange, so unnatural and unscientific. Men do not become pregnant. How does sterilizing any man prevent any woman from becoming pregnant?
How does this prevent your wife or girlfriend from becoming pregnant with a friend she bumps into at the market?