Hormonal contraception for human males: prospects

Development of an ideal hormonal contraceptive for man has been the goal of several research workers during the past few decades. Suppression of pituitary gonadotropic hormones, which in turn would inhibit spermatogenesis while maintaining normal libido and potential has been the approach for a contraceptive agent. Intramuscularly administered and orally active testosterone or testosterone in combination with progesterone have been shown to cause inhibition of spermatogenesis resulting in azoospermia in normal men. Similarly testosterone has been used in combination with gonadotropin releasing hormone antagonists and agonists to inhibit pituitary gonadotropic hormone release. Immunological approach to neutralize the circulating levels of follicle stimulating hormone has also been shown to cause inhibition of spermatogenesis. The available literature shows that testosterone causes reversible azoospermia without any significant side effects in Asian population effectively and appears to be a promising chemical for control of fertility in man.