Researchers often come up with various inventions in the medical field. This time researchers have found an on-off switch for sperm movement.
This finding has the potential to help men who are suffering from infertility but is also helpful for all the men.
Researchers also believe that it can be an effective form of male birth control. This finding can be a new and a better type of male birth control. Researchers at Yale University and UC Berkeley have found a switch that will turn sperm from the lazy swimmers they are in the testicles to the vigorous swimmers they are when exposed to an egg.
This may help some men to improve their sperm fertility, but could also can help other men to keep their sperm turned off, reports gizmodo.com.
When sperm is exposed to progesterone, a hormone exerted by ova, they tend to become more energetic swimmers.
This hormone is also responsible for flipping the switch, which allows a rush of calcium into a sperm’s tail. This is however triggered by a protein named CatSper.
Though researchers were aware about the aforesaid, they didn’t know what triggered the protein. They wondered if the hormones directly triggered the Catsper or was it using some unknown mechanism.
The scientists tried treating sperm with substances that disabled different enzymes, and then exposing the sperm to progesterone. They found that if they disabled a certain class of enzymes the sperm never switched on. With careful refinement, they zeroed in on the exact protein that progesterone must bind to in order to activate the sperm: ABHD2, as reported by gizmodo.com.
Normal people yet have no idea about this protein, but researchers are hopeful that if the research continues then it might become popular among common people. The good thing about this research is also that they can solve the fertility problem that some men faces, if they can manipulate ABHD2.
Not only this but it can help men who are not looking forward to become father, it’s possible if researchers can manufacture a substance that causes men to generate sperm with defective ABHD2, or maybe if they can disable ABHD2 in the sperm that men do manufacture. If the research is successful then it’s possible that men will have a simple method of birth control.
Though there are male contraceptive options available, they have their drawbacks.
