The way to develop a male contraceptive is through ultrasound, a new study claims. According to the Daily Mirror, researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine found that performing standard ultrasounds on rats reduced their sperm count to levels of human infertility.
Ultrasound has been suggested as a possible method of male birth control as early as 40 years ago, but the equipment used during these experiments soon became outdated and unavailable. This time, researchers used standard ultrasound equipment that is widely available in physical therapy.
The process involved two 15-minute treatments two days apart, in which high frequency ultrasound rotated around the rats’ testes. These sessions were able to effectively render the rats’ sperm counts to levels that would mean infertility in the human male.
Researchers warned that they don’t yet know how long the infertility state will last, or whether the procedure will be safe to repeat. One of the goals of creating a male contraceptive is to ensure the process is reversible, the Daily Mirror said.
Still, the researchers described ultrasound as a “promising candidate” in the search for an effective and safe male contraceptive. Further research is being funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Science Daily noted.
According to the study’s authors, humans become infertile once the sperm count drops below 15 million sperm per milliliter.
