Related news

Human eggs use chemical signals to attract sperm and new research from Stockholm University and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust shows that Eggs use these chemical signals to “choose” sperm.

“Human eggs release chemicals called chemoattractants that attract sperm to unfertilized eggs. We wanted to know if eggs use these chemical signals to choose which sperm to attract,” explains John Fitzpatrick, associate professor at Stockholm University.

The researchers examined how sperm respond to follicular fluid, which surrounds eggs and contains sperm chemoattractants. The researchers wanted to find out whether the follicular fluids of different women attracted the sperm of some men more than others.

“The follicular fluid of a woman It turned out to be better at attracting sperm from a man, while another woman’s follicular fluid was better at attracting another man’s sperm,” explains Professor Fitzpatrick. “This shows that interactions between human eggs and sperm depend on the specific identity of the women and men involved.”

The egg does not always agree with women’s choice of partner. The researchers found that eggs did not always attract her partner’s sperm compared to another man’s sperm.

Is this a choice on the part of the eggs or the sperm? Professor Fitzpatrick explained that sperm have only one job – to fertilize eggs – so there is no point in them being selective. The ovules, for their part, can benefit from collecting high quality sperm or genetically compatible.

“The idea that eggs choose sperm is really novel in human fertility,” highlights Professor Daniel Brison, scientific director of the Department of Reproductive Medicine at Saint Marys Hospital, part of MFT, and the lead author of this study.

The honorary professor from the University of Manchester adds that “research into the way eggs and sperm interact will advance fertility treatments and may eventually help us understand some of the currently ‘unexplained’ causes of infertility in couples.”

Follow the topics that interest you