Conditions like recurrent miscarriage, preeclampsia, preterm birth and stillbirth are affected by the female’s immune response in ways that the partner’s sperm contribute to.
Sperm are generally viewed as having just one action in reproduction—to fertilize the female’s egg—but studies at the University of Adelaide are overturning that view.
Published in Nature Research journal Communications Biology, new research shows that sperm also deliver signals directly to the female reproductive tissues to increase the chances of conception.
Robinson Research Institute’s Professor Sarah Robertson, who led the project, said: This research is the first to show that the female immune response is persuaded by signals in sperm to allow the male partner to fertilize her eggs and conceive a pregnancy.
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