Research by the Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) points to ways that can lead to the development of a male contraceptive. The study, published in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction, shows that from the protein Eppin, which regulates the ability of sperm to move, it is possible to develop drugs that control the fertility of men.
According to the professor of the Department of Biophysics and Pharmacology at Unesp, Erick José Ramo da Silva, from experiments carried out in mice it was possible to identify two points of the protein that regulate the movement of sperm. “It plays a very important role in the control of thematic motility by interacting with other proteins that are now in the semen. And these proteins, when interacting with Eppin, promote fine-tuning of motility, control of motility”, explains the researcher who has been studying in the area for 20 years.
According to Silva, antibodies were used to discover which are the points of Eppin, which has a similar function in mice and in humans, responsible for regulating the movement of male reproductive cells. After ejaculation, the sperm must swim to reach the egg and fertilize.
However, before ejaculation, sperm do not move. The study worked on identifying precisely which interaction causes cells to stop before the right moment. “What drives the sperm inside is the ejaculation process itself. Only after a few minutes of ejaculation will the sperm acquire the progressive motility to follow its journey”, explains the professor.
Active principle
By understanding in detail how proteins keep sperm still and then activate the movement of these cells, the researchers open up the possibility of developing drugs that act in this way. “We study how these proteins interact to understand how they interrupt motility so that we can think of pharmacological strategies, using a compound, an active principle, that could incise this relationship that naturally occurs”, he adds.
A drug capable of interrupting the movement of spermatozoa would be a contraceptive with an almost immediate effect, says Silva.
The study, which began in 2016, was funded by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and had a partnership with the Departments of Pharmacology and Biological Sciences of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), in addition to the Institute of Biology. and Experimental Medicine from the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research, Argentina.
Silva says that, now, research should continue in the sense of looking for compounds or molecules that can act in the points identified by the study. This new stage will have collaboration with scientists from England, Portugal and the University of São Paulo (USP).
The researcher says, however, that over the last few decades, the development of a male contraceptive has faced difficulties due to lack of funding by the pharmaceutical industries.
ISTOÉ DINHEIRO