TECH

A toxic plant may be the answer to creating a legitimate male contraceptive

The quest for a contraceptive pill for men is more or less like Charlie Brown's "Peanuts" trying to kick the American football: an apparently achievable act, but it is always interrupted by Lucy (or, in the case of male contraceptive, by disappointing results of studies) at the last second.
Recently, in 2016, a major clinical trial of an injectable contraceptive was stopped after men reported suffering more side effects than expected, including serious emotional problems and mood swings - one volunteer committed suicide during the study. Given the difficulty in this field, we are wary of a new study with cautious optimism: the authors of a study published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry say they have found a potential male contraceptive, a compound found in the extract of a plant that hunters in Africa have long used to create poison for the tips of his arrows.The extract, known as ouabain, inhibits an enzyme called Na / K-ATPase which helps cells pump sodium out and potassium in through its membrane. Although this pumping of sodium and potassium is found in virtually any cell type, the effect of ouabain is more apparent in cardiac cells. In these cells, inhibiting the enzyme causes them (and the heart) to slow down. For centuries this made the ouabain a good lethal weapon option.
But ouabain also inhibits the pumping of sodium and potassium in mature sperm cells, making them poor swimmers. Our bodies produce a natural version of ouabain (in doses much smaller than those found in hunters' arrows), and men with high compost levels tend to have lower fertility, say studies. This makes ouabain an attractive male contraceptive candidate, except for the possibility that it will stop your heart if you consume too much of the compound.To solve this problem, the researchers altered the chemical structure of ouabain and created three compounds that appear to inhibit the pumping of only sperm cells. They tested the most promising compound in living rats, and found that it made the animals infertile in only three days. Better yet, it is the fact that the compound did not cause any noticeable side effects. And their particular way to reduce fertility makes the compost an ideal contraceptive."It only inhibits sperm motility and does not interfere with development," explains Gunda Georg, senior author of the study and head of the Department of Chemical Medicine at the University of Minnesota in an email. "So he's a very selective agent."But of course, as Georg and his team admits, the discovery is just proof of a concept. There are still many questions about the compound created by scientists, one of them for how long the contraceptive effect would last in people. The answer would then dictate a dosing schedule. Georg says his team is already taking care of the next steps and plans to experiment with breeding tests on mating animals, which they hope to complete later this year. And if all goes well - again, a big "if" in the world of male contraceptives - they expected to start clinical trials within the next five years.


Source:Ed Cara