Coming soon, 'the Pill' for men

A Scottish study is shedding light on ways to safely manipulate hormone levels in men to decrease — or increase — sperm production. The result could finally lead to a long-elusive birth control pill for men, as well as new fertility-enhancing techniques for men with low sperm counts.

From the Times of India:

To make this discovery, Welsh and colleagues performed studies in two groups of mice.

The first group of mice was normal, but the second group of mice was missing a gene from the peritubular myoid cells in the testis. This gene that was missing codes for the androgen hormone receptor, and when missing, sperm production was significantly decreased when compared to the normal group. The result was infertility.

[…] Although the research was conducted in mice, a similar effect is likely to obtain in other mammals, such as humans.

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