Are there any male contraceptive pills?

Are there male contraceptive pills? I believe many friends have thought about this question. Today's contraceptive pills are mainly for women, so are there male contraceptive pills? Next, this article will introduce you to the relevant content of whether there are male contraceptive pills. Friends who want to know whether there are male contraceptive pills can take a look! Please see the detailed introduction below.

Are there male contraceptive pills? The answer is of course yes. The main male contraceptive methods are condoms and vasectomy. The former has a high failure rate and the latter is irreversible. In developed countries, male vasectomy is very common. In the Netherlands, 50% of couples over 35 years old choose surgical contraception, of which 70% are male vasectomies. In New Zealand, half of men over 40 years old undergo this surgery. In the UK, 40,000 men undergo this surgery every year. Male contraceptive pills not only overcome the inefficiency of condoms, but also maintain male fertility.

Male contraceptive pills work in different ways:

1. Long-term and excessive use of gonadotropin-releasing hormones can inhibit spermatogenesis by down-regulating the secretion of pituitary gonadotropins (follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone).

2. Use corresponding antibodies to follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone to block the effects of these hormones. However, since these two hormones contain the same α subunit, which is the same as the α subunit of thyroid-stimulating hormone, when the antibody cannot specifically counteract this hormone, it may cause unnecessary side effects.

3. Use autologous hormones, such as testosterone alone or in combination with progesterone, to inhibit the pituitary gland from secreting gonadotropin and inhibit spermatogenesis through negative feedback. Regular injection of testosterone enanthate can achieve an anti-fertility effect, which can be restored after discontinuation of the drug. It is a promising male contraceptive.

The above drugs all interfere with the spermatogenesis process by inhibiting the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis. The drugs are expensive, inconvenient to use, and inhibit the function of testicular interstitial cells at the same time, resulting in a decrease in testosterone levels, decreased libido or sexual dysfunction, so further research and solutions are still needed. Among them, although testosterone also inhibits the function of interstitial cells, it has a good prospect for use because it has a substitution effect and does not affect sexual function.

4. The drug that selectively inhibits spermatogenic epithelium, gossypol, was first discovered by Chinese scholars to have an anti-fertility effect, and a large number of studies and clinical trials have been conducted in China. This research has attracted international attention. It is a male oral contraceptive that is cheap and easy to use, but it also has certain side effects.

In general, male contraceptive pills have very few side effects and will only cause the user to gain a little weight. Some experts point out that another advantage of male contraceptive pills is that they are not as difficult to reverse as vasectomy, because men can restore their reproductive ability by stopping taking contraceptive pills for 16 weeks.

The above is the introduction to the question of whether there are male contraceptive pills. From the above introduction, we can know that male contraceptive pills do exist, and the contraceptive effect is quite good! In addition, the side effects of male contraceptive pills are relatively small, so it is recommended that male friends take contraceptive pills! I hope that the introduction of this article will be useful to everyone.