^
A
A
A

Scientists have tried to find the cause of female abnormal infertility

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
 
Fact-checked
х

All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.

We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.

If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.

05 April 2017, 09:00

Primary, or idiopathic infertility is a medical term that means that for all indicators a woman can become pregnant, but this does not happen. Such a diagnosis often puts both doctors and the woman at a dead end. American experts representing the Baylor College of Medicine, which is in Houston, Texas, have tried to understand this issue.

The diagnosis of abnormal, or unexplained infertility - is, in fact, a challenge for scientists around the world. After all, indirectly, this recognition of imperfect diagnostic capabilities of modern medicine and science. According to statistics, about 40 years ago, a doctor diagnosed such a diagnosis with every second married couple. However, with the gradual improvement of diagnostic techniques, this percentage slowly but surely declined. Today, an unknown cause of primary infertility is recorded in about 10-15% of women. And it's still a fairly high figure. Therefore, specialists can not leave such a situation without attention.

According to scientists, the problem of idiopathic infertility of unknown origin can be the mutation of genes.

Specialists were able to discover that disorders in DNA that lead to a loss of functionality of genes belonging to the NLRP family lead to a violation of placental development, to loss of the embryo before the moment of implantation, or to the birth of a child with multiple developmental defects.

It is mutations, according to experts, are the initial causes of idiopathic unexplained infertility.

To confirm their conjectures about the effect of the disturbed inactivated genes NLRP2 and NLRP7 on the reproductive processes in the female body, the scientists put an experimental experiment on rodents. And, despite the fact that mice are considered carriers of only the first gene (NLRP2), the scientists made the assumption that its value can be equated to the second gene (NLRP7).

The rodents, which underwent genetic modification with the blocking of the activity of certain DNA, were no different from other similar animals: they were absolutely healthy and well-behaved. But the females of these mice, as the scientists found, lost the ability to conceive, or nevertheless became pregnant, but their offspring had pronounced developmental shortcomings. The mutation of the same gene in males did not manifest itself on any side - they could mate with healthy females and give normal offspring.

Analyzing the results obtained by scientists, we can conclude that a person still does not know much about the characteristics of his organism. Is it possible to overcome an invisible barrier on the way to long-awaited pregnancy, and whether it is worthwhile for barren women to hope that their problem will soon be solved? These questions have yet to be answered by specialists. And we hope that this answer will be positive.

trusted-source[1], [2], [3], [4]

You are reporting a typo in the following text:
Simply click the "Send typo report" button to complete the report. You can also include a comment.