The researcher at the Institute of Biotechnology of the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Alberto Darszon, has discovered a new contraceptive method for which the use of hormones is not necessary and which is also completely reversible. This revolutionary finding is based on the fact that, like other cells, sperm (which are also reproductive cells) have ionic channels that allow them to exchange chemical substances with their environment, allowing them to move and fertilize. By blocking these communication pathways, the exchange between the ovum and the sperm does not take place and, therefore, fertilization would not exist.
The creation of a substance that prevents this chemical exchange between sperm and ovum would be a contraceptive treatment aimed at men, effective, non-hormonal and reversible, since its effects would only be evident while the drug was being taken.
"We have been trying for many years to understand how different substances move through the sperm membrane and we believe that we have clues to a specific inhibitor that could disrupt their ability to fertilize, " says Darzson.
Inhibiting changes in ionic concentration with electrical charge inside and outside the sperm membrane would be the key to preventing cellular processes such as fertilization. Now, it only remains to find a blocker that intervenes in this process .
