Health & Medicine
Male Fertility Can Happen With Missing Protein
Brooke Miller
First Posted: Sep 23, 2012 01:15 PM EDT
A team of University Scientists have discovered that by adding a missing protein to infertile human sperm it can initiate its ability to fertilise an egg, thereby increasing chances of a successful pregnancy.
The team from the School of Medicine found that a vital protein is being transferred from the sperm to the egg upon fertilization known as thePLC-zeta (PLCz). This sperm protein initiates a process called 'egg activation' which sets off all the biological processes necessary for development of an embryo.
They have analyzed that the eggs don't fertilize due to the defective PLCz. Male infertility can be treated with the active protein to produce egg activation. PLCz initiates fertilization and improves chances of pregnancy.
"We know that some men are infertile because their sperm fail to activate eggs. Even though their sperm fuses with the egg, nothing happens. These sperm may lack a proper functioning version of PLCz, which is essential to trigger the next stage in becoming pregnant," said Professor Tony Lai, who together with Professor Karl Swann led the research team at the University's Institute of Molecular and Experimental Medicine.
"What's important from our research is that we have used human sperm PLCz to obtain the positive results that we had previously observed only in experiments with mice.
"In the lab we have been able to prepare human PLCz protein that is active. If this protein is inactive or missing from sperm, it fails to trigger the process necessary for egg activation -- the next crucial stage of embryo development.
"However, when an unfertilised egg is injected with human PLCz, it responds exactly as it should do at fertilisation, resulting in successful embryo development to the blastocyst stage, vital to pregnancy success," he added.
Professor Tony Lai adds: "We've established that this one sperm protein, PLCz, is absolutely critical at the point where life begins.
"Whilst this was a lab experiment and our method could not be used in a fertility clinic in exactly the same way -- there is potential to translate this advance into humans.
"In the future, we could produce the human PLCz protein and use it to stimulate egg activation in a completely natural way. For those couples going through IVF treatment, it could ultimately improve their chances of having a baby and treat male infertility."
The study was carried in the online journal Fertility and Sterility and was funded by the Wellcome Trust.
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First Posted: Sep 23, 2012 01:15 PM EDT
A team of University Scientists have discovered that by adding a missing protein to infertile human sperm it can initiate its ability to fertilise an egg, thereby increasing chances of a successful pregnancy.
The team from the School of Medicine found that a vital protein is being transferred from the sperm to the egg upon fertilization known as thePLC-zeta (PLCz). This sperm protein initiates a process called 'egg activation' which sets off all the biological processes necessary for development of an embryo.
They have analyzed that the eggs don't fertilize due to the defective PLCz. Male infertility can be treated with the active protein to produce egg activation. PLCz initiates fertilization and improves chances of pregnancy.
"We know that some men are infertile because their sperm fail to activate eggs. Even though their sperm fuses with the egg, nothing happens. These sperm may lack a proper functioning version of PLCz, which is essential to trigger the next stage in becoming pregnant," said Professor Tony Lai, who together with Professor Karl Swann led the research team at the University's Institute of Molecular and Experimental Medicine.
"What's important from our research is that we have used human sperm PLCz to obtain the positive results that we had previously observed only in experiments with mice.
"In the lab we have been able to prepare human PLCz protein that is active. If this protein is inactive or missing from sperm, it fails to trigger the process necessary for egg activation -- the next crucial stage of embryo development.
"However, when an unfertilised egg is injected with human PLCz, it responds exactly as it should do at fertilisation, resulting in successful embryo development to the blastocyst stage, vital to pregnancy success," he added.
Professor Tony Lai adds: "We've established that this one sperm protein, PLCz, is absolutely critical at the point where life begins.
"Whilst this was a lab experiment and our method could not be used in a fertility clinic in exactly the same way -- there is potential to translate this advance into humans.
"In the future, we could produce the human PLCz protein and use it to stimulate egg activation in a completely natural way. For those couples going through IVF treatment, it could ultimately improve their chances of having a baby and treat male infertility."
The study was carried in the online journal Fertility and Sterility and was funded by the Wellcome Trust.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone