Two compounds normally found in wild plants could make good alternatives to emergency contraceptives – if scientists only knew where to get enough of them. Chemicals from dandelion root and the “thunder god vine” plant have long been used in traditional medicines. Now, Californian researchers have found they can also block fertilization.
A UK sperm expert said the discovery could lead to a new and novel approach to male contraception. But the compounds existed at such low levels in plants that the cost of extraction was very high, the US team said.
In tests, chemicals called pristimerin and lupeol stopped fertilization by preventing human sperm from whipping its tail and propelling itself towards and into the woman’s egg.
The chemicals were acting like “molecular condoms”, the study authors wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In other words, they successfully blocked progesterone – which triggers the sperm’s forceful swimming – but didn’t damage the sperm.
“It doesn’t kill sperm basal motility. It is not toxic to sperm cells; they still can move,” said Polina Lishko, assistant professor of molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
“But they cannot develop this powerful stroke, because this whole activation pathway is shut down.”
Lupeol is found in plants such as mango, dandelion root and aloe vera, while pristimerin is from the tripterygium wilfordii plant (also known as “thunder god vine”) and is used in traditional Chinese medicine.
The researchers found that the chemicals worked at very low doses and had no side-effects either, unlike hormone-based contraceptives. They concluded that the compounds could potentially be used as an emergency contraceptive, before or after intercourse, or as a permanent contraceptive via a skin patch or vaginal ring.