University of Adelaide Professor Sarah Robertson, who is leading the research, says tests discovered that females have an [...]]]> The age old male view that women are too picky has been taken to a whole new level after research found the female reproductive system may be rejecting sperm it doesn’t find good enough to create a pregnancy.

University of Adelaide Professor Sarah Robertson, who is leading the research, says tests discovered that females have an in-built quality control system, that assesses if the male partner is quality enough to invest her reproductive energy in.

“Part of this whole process is it’s a way of the female body evaluating whether the time is right and whether this particular partner is the right one to conceive a pregnancy with.

“Some women have higher thresholds to responding to this signalling pathway. It might be that with one partner they’re having more trouble than they might with another partner.

“What we understand is that there is a partner-specific component to this. Some combinations of men and women might not be compatible and it’s possible that the immune systems of some women aren’t responding correctly to their partner’s triggering molecules.

In the past, blame has generally been put with the woman if a couple is struggling to conceive and the man has healthy sperm.

But Professor Robertson says her findings show there may be another element to it and with further research there may be tests and treatments later down the track.

The research has primarily been on mice and pigs, but Professor Robertson says there is some indication that it will have the same or similar effect on human females.

“We’ve discovered that there are signalling molecules in the seminal fluid, so that after coitus when that fluid travels from the male to the female reproductive tissues it activates gene expression changes and also changes in the female immune system that increase the likelihood of a pregnancy occurring,” she said.

“At the moment we’ve done lots of work on mice and pigs and we’ve done a little bit of work with human cells and we’ve found if we put seminal fluid on cells in vitro that we get the same kind of changes in human cells.

Professor Robertson says this discovery could be extremely important from an evolutionary perspective, because it means the female body has the ability to decide when the time is right to fall pregnant.

The University of Adelaide research team is looking for female volunteers from 18-40 who have had a tubal ligation, but are in a stable, sexually active relationship.

Via: abc.net.au

University of Adelaide professor Sarah Robertson said her research suggested that sperm contains “signalling molecules” that activate immunity changes in a woman so her body accepts [...]]]> A woman’s body may be unconsciously selective about sperm, allowing some men’s to progress to pregnancy but killing off the chances of less suitable matches, an Australian researcher said Wednesday.

University of Adelaide professor Sarah Robertson said her research suggested that sperm contains “signalling molecules” that activate immunity changes in a woman so her body accepts it.

But some apparently healthy sperm failed to activate these changes, leading to the suggestion that the female system can be “choosy” about its biological mate, she said.

“It’s rather like a two-way dance,” Robertson said.

“The male provides information that increases the chances of conception and progression to pregnancy, but the female body has a quality control system which needs convincing that his sperm is compatible.

“That’s where the dance can go wrong with some couples – if the male signals are not strong enough, or if the female system is too ‘choosy’.”

Robertson said sperm was more likely to fail if the woman had not previously been exposed to that man’s semen for at least three months.

“We used to think that if a couple couldn’t get pregnant, and the man’s semen test was normal, the problem lay with the woman. But it appears this is not always the case,” Robertson said.

The researchers plan to continue their work, which they hope will lead to improved treatments for infertility and miscarriages. – AFP

Via: iol.co.za

University of Adelaide Professor Sarah Robertson said semen had special qualities that contributed to a healthy pregnancy, including helping to prepare the female body for nurturing the fetus.

But [...]]]> A man’s sperm can contribute to a healthy pregnancy but also runs the risk of being rejected if not entirely compatible with his partner, new research has found.

University of Adelaide Professor Sarah Robertson said semen had special qualities that contributed to a healthy pregnancy, including helping to prepare the female body for nurturing the fetus.

But some sperm fail to communicate with the female reproductive tract and while a man can appear to be fertile, his semen can be rejected if the woman’s body doesn’t consider it compatible.

“We used to think that if a couple couldn’t get pregnant, and the mans semen test was normal, the problem lay with the woman,” Professor Robertson said in a statement on Wednesday.

“But it appears this is not always the case.

“We have discovered that sperm doesn’t just fertilise an egg.

“It actually contains signalling molecules that are responsible for activating immune changes in women so they can accept a foreign substance in the body, in this case sperm, leading to conception and a healthy pregnancy.

“It’s rather like a two-way dance.”

Professor Robertson, a fertility specialist, is leading a national research project examining the actions of semen in the cervix and uterus after intercourse takes place.

That research has revealed the male body provides information that increases the chances of conception and progression to pregnancy, but the female body has a quality control system which needs convincing that the sperm is compatible, and also judges whether the conditions are right for reproducing.

“That’s where the dance can go wrong with some couples if the male signals are not strong enough, or if the female system is too choosy,” Professor Robertson said.

“If we can understand the cascade of events which come into play when the sperm enters the female reproductive tract, we may be able to mimic or assist this with new therapies, encouraging tolerance of her partner’s semen, for those couples who are experiencing difficulties becoming pregnant.”

Professor Robertson is seeking female participants for her ongoing research, which is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Women aged 18-40 who have had a tubal ligation but are sexually active and in a stable relationship are needed for the study.

They cannot be using any other contraceptives and their partners must not have had a vasectomy.

Professor Robertson said the study was the first of its kind in Australia and would increase knowledge of the importance of semen for reproductive health, hopefully leading to improved treatments for infertility and miscarriage.

Via: news.ninemsn.com.au