Originally published August 6 2005
Sperm may hit a brick wall, thanks to new birth control research
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Scientists are working on a new vaccine to prevent pregnancy. If developed, it would make a woman's eggs repel sperm.
A University of Missouri at Columbia researcher is aiming for the ultimate female contraceptive: a vaccine that would make sperm bounce off eggs like they were brick walls.
"You almost have it in the back of your head that this is too good to be true," said MU animal scientist Peter Sutovsky, who can block fertilization 100 percent of the time when he puts certain antibodies in a petri dish of pig eggs and sperm.
Antibodies are the immune system's natural way of fighting what it thinks is foreign and dangerous.
Sutovsky acknowledges that the next step - making a safe vaccine that provokes the body to produce the antibodies itself - has meant failure for many other scientists tantalized by the idea of a hormone-free immunocontraceptive.
"It tells you we've undermet the need for contraception," said Lawrence Finer, a research director at the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive health and policy.
When sperm bind to the outer edge of the egg wall, a cap in their heads bursts open, releasing proteasomes.
Proteasomes are cellular garbage collectors; they eat proteins that are "tagged" as old or broken.
He's currently vaccinating mice, hoping that mice can produce the antibodies themselves.
Even well-established vaccines, like those for measles or tetanus, have a failure rate.
Individual immune systems can overreact or underreact.
Another problem is getting enough antibodies, which usually patrol the bloodstream, in the mucous membranes where fertilization occurs.
A third worry is side effects, Naz said.
Researchers want the antibodies to attack only the sperm or egg.
The payoff of a viable vaccine could be huge, because hormones in the pill can cause undesirable side effects for some women.
Women who want to become fertile again would simply not get a booster, Sutovsky suggests.
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