RISUG (Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance, formerly referred to as SMA) is the development name of a male contraceptive developed at IIT (Delhi) in India by Dr. Sujoy K Guha. It is currently undergoing Phase III clinical trials in India. It has been patented in India, China, Bangladesh and the United States. Male Contraceptive Male contraception refers to the process of inhibiting fertilization of the egg with the sperm using methods that deal solely (or primarily) with procedures applied to the male partner. ... IIT is an initialism of many institutes of technology, it may refer to: Indian Institutes of Technology, premier technology institutes in India located at Kharagpur,Mumbai,Chennai(IIT Madras) ,New Delhi,Kanpur,Guwahati,Roorkee Indiana Institute of Technology, also known as Indiana Tech, in Fort Wayne, Indiana International Institute of... Sujoy Kumar Guha, commonly known as Professor S K Guha or Prof Sujoy K Guha was born in Patna, India in 1939. ...

Mechanism of action

RISUG works by an injection into the vas deferens, the vessel through which the sperm moves before ejaculation. In a matter of minutes, the injection coats the walls of the vas with a clear gel made of 60 mg of the copolymer styrene/maleic anhydride (SMA) with 120 µL of the solvent dimethyl sulfoxide. The copolymer is made by irradiation of the two monomers with a dose of 0.2 to 0.24 megarad for every 40 g of copolymer and a dose rate of 30 to 40 rad/s. The source of irradiation is cobalt-60 gamma radiation. Male Anatomy The vas deferens, also called ductus deferens, (Latin: carrying-away vessel) is part of the human male anatomy. ... The signifier sperm can refer to: (mass noun, from Greek sperma = seed) a substance which consists of spermatozoa and which is a component of semen (mass noun) semen itself (informally, count noun with plural sperm or sperms) a single spermatozoon (= sperm cell) sperma ceti (Latin ceti, genitive of cetus = whale... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Injection has multiple meanings: In mathematics, the term injection refers to an injective function. ... A gel (from the lat. ... A heteropolymer, also called a copolymer, is a polymer formed when two different types of monomer are linked in the same polymer chain. ... Styrene (also vinyl benzene, ethenylbenzene, phenethylene or phenylethene, cinnamene, diarex HF 77, styrolene, styrol, styropol) is an organic compound which is an aromatic hydrocarbon having the chemical formula C8H8. ... R-phrases , , S-phrases , , , , Flash point 102 °C RTECS number UE5950000 Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... The microlitre is a minute liquid volume that is part of the metric system of measures and which has been accepted into the International System of Units. ... Flash point 95 °C R/S statement R: 36/37/38 S: 26-37/39 RTECS number PV6210000 Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... Irradiation is the process by which an item is exposed to radiation. ... In chemistry, a monomer (from Greek mono one and meros part) is a small molecule that may become chemically bonded to other monomers to form a polymer. ... The rad is a unit of radiation dose, with symbol rad. ... Cobalt 60 is a Front 242 side project featuring Front 242s Jean-Luc de Meyer and Dominique Lallement. ... This article is about electromagnetic radiation. ...

The effect the chemical has on sperm is not completely understood. Originally it was thought that it lowered the pH of the environment enough to kill the sperm.[1] More recent research claims that this is not enough to explain the effect. The correct title of this article is pH. The initial letter is capitalized due to technical restrictions. ...

One explanation is that the polymer is an anhydride, and hydrolizes in the presence of water in the spermatic fluid. Due to the breaking of a cyclic group, the polymer becomes a hydride and has a positive charge. This disturbs the negative charge of the sperm membrane on contact. (From U.S. Patent 5,488,075) In chemistry, an anhydride is a compound that can be considered as derived from another compound by subtracting the atoms of water. ... Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction or process in which a molecule is split into two parts by reacting with a molecule of water, which has the chemical formula H2O. One of the parts gets an OH from the water molecule and the other part gets an H from the water. ... A hydride is a compound of hydrogen with more electropositive elements. ...

Some theorize that the polymer surface has a negative and positive electric charge mosaic. The differential charge from the gel ruptures the sperm's cell membrane as it passes through the vas, stopping the sperm before they can start their journey to the egg.[2] ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Drawing of a cell membrane A component of every biological cell, the selectively permeable cell membrane (or plasma membrane or plasmalemma) is a thin and structured bilayer of phospholipid and protein molecules that envelopes the cell. ... A human ovum An ovum (from Latin, loosely, egg or egg cell) is a female sex cell or gamete. ...

“Within an hour, the drugs produce an electrical charge that nullifies the electrical charge of the spermatozoa, preventing it from penetrating the ovum,” Dr. Guha said.

Advantages

Some of the advantages, according to Dr.Guha:

• It works - Of all the men who've had the RISUG injection (and 15 of the 250 had it more than 10 years ago), there has been only one unplanned pregnancy among their partners — and in that instance, the injection wasn't administered properly.
• Convenient - Neither sexual partner has to interrupt the throes of passion to use it — no more running to the bathroom and fumbling with various ointments and plastics.
• Non-surgical - The process, once it is refined and approved, will be operation-free Men can leave the hospital immediately after an injection and resume their normal sex lives within a week.
• Long-lasting - According to Guha, a single 60 mg injection can be effective for at least 10 years.
• Few side effects - After testing RISUG on more than 250 volunteers, neither Guha nor other researchers in the field claim side effects more worrisome than a slight scrotal swelling in some men immediately following the injection which goes away after a few weeks, though there are also unconfirmed reports of kidney problems. They say to compare with the Pill, which can cause health problems ranging from severe migraines to blood clots.
• Reversible - The contraceptive appears to be reversible by flushing the vas with another injection of dimethyl sulfoxide or sodium bicarbonate solution. (The sodium bicarbonate solution cannot be used as the solvent in the initial injection since it would neutralize the positive charge effect.) To date, reversing the procedure has been tried only on non-human primates, but among them, it's been reversed successfully multiple times.
  • Unlike in a vasectomy (see Blood-testes barrier), the vas deferens is not completely blocked, the body doesn't have to absorb the blocked sperm, and sperm antibodies are not produced in large numbers, making reversal more feasible than vasovasostomy.

Pregnancy Pregnancy is the carrying of one or more embryos or fetuses by female mammals, including humans, inside their bodies. ... A sexual partner is a person with whom one engages in sex acts. ... An ointment is a viscous semisolid preparation used topically on a variety of body surfaces. ... The milligram (symbol mg) is an SI unit of mass. ... Side-effect can mean: Side-effect (computer science), a state change caused by a function call Adverse drug reaction, an unintended consequence specifically arising from drug therapy Therapeutic effect (medicine), a desirable consequence of any kind of medical treatment, even though resulting as an unintended, unexpected consequence of the treatment... The scrotum (human variant shown) is a thin extension of the abdomen that contains the testes and helps regulate their temperature. ... Oral contraceptives are contraceptives which are taken orally and inhibit the bodys fertility by chemical means. ... A thrombus is the final product of blood coagulation, through the aggregation of platelets and the activation of the humoral coagulation system. ... Flash point 95 °C R/S statement R: 36/37/38 S: 26-37/39 RTECS number PV6210000 Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), or sodium hydrogen carbonate, also known as baking soda and bicarbonate of soda, is a soluble white anhydrous or crystalline chemical compound, with a slight alkaline taste resembling that of sodium carbonate. ... For the ecclesiastical use of this term, see primate (religion) Families 13, See classification A primate is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all lemurs, monkeys, and apes, including humans. ... For the process of removing or killing all microorganisms from an object, see Sterilization (microbiology). ... The blood-testes barrier is a physical barrier between the tissues in the testes that are responsible for the generation of sperm and the bloodstream. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Vasectomies in males can be reversed, this process is called a vasovasostomy. ...

Controversy

The thoroughness of carcinogenicity, teratogenicity and toxicity testing in clinical trials has been questioned. In October 2002, India's Ministry of Health aborted the clinical trials due to reports of albumin in urine and scrotal swelling in Phase III trial participants. [3] The Indian Council for Medical Research noted that dimethyl sulfoxide used as a solvent for the injection is known to cause kidney damage. [4] Although the ICMR has reviewed and approved the toxicology data three times, some United States researchers say that the studies were not done according to recent international standards. In pathology, a carcinogen is any substance or agent that promotes cancer. ... Teratogenesis is a medical term from the Greek, literally meaning monster-making, which derives from teratology, the study of the frequency, causation, and development of congenital malformations—misleadingly called birth defects. ... Look up toxic and toxicity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Indian Health Ministry is a part of Inidan Goverment and is responsible for provision of health care / health services for all Indian residents. ... You may be looking for albumen, or egg white. ... Urine is liquid waste excreted by the kidneys and is produced by the process of filtration. ... In medicine, a clinical trial (synonyms: clinical studies, research protocols, medical research) is a research study. ... Flash point 95 °C R/S statement R: 36/37/38 S: 26-37/39 RTECS number PV6210000 Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ...

Once this form of contraception is released into the market, it could displace the use of condoms. Unlike condoms, RISUG provides no protection against the spread of Sexually-transmitted diseases. A condom sealed in typical packaging A condom is a device, usually made of latex or more recently polyurethane, that is used during sexual intercourse to reduce the risk of pregnancy and/or some sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as gonorrhea, syphilis and AIDS. Condoms are also often used to... Sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), also known as sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), are diseases that are commonly transmitted between partners through some form of sexual activity, most commonly vaginal intercourse, oral sex, or anal sex. ...

External links

• U.S. Patent 5,488,075
• Detailed information from Male contraceptives.org
• Studies of RISUG Experimental male contraceptive 1976-2004
• SMA

• ICMR Website
• ICMR 2004 Anuual Report
• Hindustan Times
• The Sperminator in Grist Magazine
• India Today Article
• Indian Express Article
• Canadian Doctor implements RISUG

• Country’s first male contraceptive aborted (October 2002)
• ICMR takes a shot at a male contraceptive (October 2000)
• An interpretation of "Status of Spermatogenesis and Sperm Parameters in Langur Monkeys Following Long-term Vas Occlusion With Styrene Maleic Anhydride"