Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/z_dp6Ogts8c An effective but reversible male contraceptive has been an elusive goal for the past century since Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger coined the term “birth control.”  Chinese bioengineers using the latest nanotechnology report a unique sperm tube blocking parfait that may just do the trick.  They tested the concept in a rat model. To prevent sperm from traveling down from the testes, the researchers injected four layers into the vas deferens, the sperm tube.  A layer of hydrogel formed a barrier to sperm travel, a layer of gold nanoparticles which heat up and will dissolve the hydrogel when exposed to near infrared light, EDTA, a chemical that helps to break down the hydrogel but also kills sperm, and finally another layer of gold nanoparticles. This blocking parfait prevented sperm passage for about 2 months, but application of near infrared light can immediately opened the vas deferens tubes to permit sperm flow when desired.  More work will need to be done bef