[ad_1]
For many years, people have come up with very effective ways to prevent infertility. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks used cloth skins and animal skins, advanced modern condoms and diaphragms. We now have spermicides, sponges, intrauterine devices, pills, and implants to separate sperm and egg. There is only one problem: People who want to avoid pregnancy do not always use contraception.
“The bottom line is that almost half of all pregnancies are unintended,” says Deborah Anderson, a professor at Boston University Medical School who specializes in obstetrics, gynecology, and infectious diseases. “While we have a very good hormonal contraceptive method, it doesn’t get in the way we want it to.”
There are many reasons why some people do not want to use hormonal contraceptives: They require medication, they can cause some problems, they stop the birth control of women, and they need to remember daily pills or shots every three months, or have a supplement. Some methods have their drawbacks, too: Some require acceptance of others, are easy to forget or misuse in the heat, or have a lower chance.
That is why scientists have been using a new method that could be easier to use, smarter, and more effective in changing women’s hormones. This technique uses monoclonal antibodies to mimic antibodies that are used by the body’s immune system and attack sperm before reaching the egg. Recent papers — published in Science Interpretation Science in August and another was published in EBioMedicine in July — show that these antibodies can lean on sperm and make them weak. Some studies have investigated whether these antibodies can be used the fight against HIV or the virus that causes herpes, and if they are safe to put as contraceptive methods or the like input like a vaginal ring.
“Time is good,” says Anderson, co-author on EBioMedicine paper, which shows that synthetic antibodies were useful in building sperm.
If monoclonal antibodies sound better, it is because they have recently received a lot of attention as a treatment to know Covid-19. Antibodies are proteins that the human immune system makes to fight infections. They bind to the actual attackers and confuse them, while they also show the body that they are being attacked and need to make other defenders. We are born with some of our own antibodies. Some are made after we have been exposed to a new virus and become ill — think of the immense protection, the serious consequences of having smallpox. And some are made when they are vaccinated with a vaccine that teaches the body to deal with its enemies without any serious illness.
And now, some are made in the lab. These are supposed to be short-term protection, not long-term physical changes; they are like temporary bouncers who can prevent unwanted guests – sperm – from joining the party.
Anderson watches a women’s video that can be bought at the pharmacy without a prescription. Each video lasts about one day. “I think it’s probably more popular to use women who sometimes have sex,” she says. “They do not want to be like that. They may prefer to use the item only when they wish. ”
Some people naturally produce anti-sperm antibodies, which do not kill sperm, but make them more complex. If the sperm fails to swim out of the vagina, the acidic environment, dies. In the 1970s, scientists began trying to make their own antibodies in the lab. But “at that time, the potential for creating antibodies and giving them inadequate medications was unlikely,” said Samuel Lai, director of the pharmacoengineering program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of the August paper. It was also cheap to make enough of them. “That’s why all primary care programs focus on family planning vaccines,” she continues.
[ad_2]
Source link
