A few doses of ultrasound to the testes could provide men with a painless, effective form of contraception, a new study suggests.
Researchers funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation subjected rats’ testes to high-frequency ultrasound and then tested their fertility levels two weeks later. They discovered that after two 15-minute sessions two days apart, the rats’ sperm count had effectively dropped to zero and that sperm-producing germ cells had been killed.
“The non-invasive nature of ultrasound and its efficacy in reducing sperm count make therapeutic ultrasound a promising candidate for a male contraceptive,” the authors wrote, although further work research is needed on the safety, duration and reversibility of the method.
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 2012; doi:10.1186/1477-7827-10-7
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