The last time I heard this saying, it was Jerry Lee Lewis singing that popular rock n’ roll song with the same title. So there is no misunderstanding, this column has no connection to that song.
Women have a variety of methods for contraception, but only two methods are commonly available to men: condoms and vasectomies. Both methods have their drawbacks.
Condoms can break, and some men are allergic to the latex in standard condoms. Some compare condoms to trying to eat an ice cream with a sock on your tongue. Neither are they foolproof or all that pleasing to use.
Vasectomies are surgical procedures that can be painful and non-reversable.
I recall a buddy back in the eighties who was scheduled for one. His wife had pushed for it. He was scared skinny and as was too, just thinking about him, “What if it was me?”
But there is hope for single men and married ones who want to delay starting a family. As the search for alternative male contraceptive options continues, one method currently being investigated is nanocontraception.
The research is still in the laboratory but the heating up of the male testicles with nanoparticles might be the preferred choice for birth control sometime in the future. I was taken aback picturing that procedure. I’m glad I’m out of the picture as it seems too bizarre for me. And it has nothing to do with my Dr. Ho’s pain therapy system either – at least not yet.
To explain, Nanocontraception is based on the idea that about one hundred nanoparticles (one-thousandth the width of a strand of human hair) be delivered to the testicles to warm them up, hardly noticeable by anyone.
Instead, it is hoped to be able to take magnetic nanorods orally and then find a way to direct them to the testicles – much more tolerable and pleasant than the earlier method.
These magnetic nanoparticles were injected into mice’s veins, and then the animals were anesthetized. A magnet was then placed next to their testicles for four hours, drawing the nanoparticles there. Magnetic targeting was performed daily for one to four days.
Finally, an electric coil was wrapped around the testicles, through which a current was passed. This induced a magnetic field that heated up the nanorods and thus the testicles. The more days a mouse had been injected, the hotter its testicles became.
Hotter testicles can be scary, especially when leading to their shrinkage. However there was gradual recovery – not comforting to me at all.
The cost and the irreversibility of surgical castration lead many pet owners to look for alternative methods of contraception. Nanocontraception is ready to be used on household pets and is already being used on cats in China.
“Surgical castration is less popular in Europe than in North America, so nanocontraception might be of greater interest there,” says David Powell, director of the Reproductive Management Center in St. Louis, Mo. “There’s really not a big pet contraception market in the U.S.,” he continued.
Viable contraception for animals can be a valuable tool for animal conservation and breeding programs. “Zoos are a very small market, and so drug companies don’t have a lot of motivation to make animal contraceptives,” says Powell. But some of them do, and the Reproductive Management Center collects data to evaluate how contraceptives work on distinct species. Nanocontraception could be a part of zoos’ reproductive toolkit one day.
But before this happens, says Powell, further studies would need to establish how painful it is and in which species the iron nanorods can be used. Research has indicated that some mammals — such as rhinoceroses and dolphins — might accumulate iron, which can be toxic in larger quantities.
One potential advantage of nanocontraception is its reversibility, as zoos often try to precisely time breeding events over animals’ life cycles. But just how reversible it is needs further study. All experiments treated mice only once; they were never subjected to a second injection of nanoparticles after their testicles had healed.
And it is uncertain how many men will be cozy with shrunken testicles, even if they recover their original size with time.
Until then, better stick with the condoms.
