Study reveals why some men have a low sperm count

New research has shed light on what may be going wrong in the process of sperm formation helping explain why some men do not make enough sperm to fertilise an eggMillions of couples worldwide experience infertility with half of the cases originating in menFor 10 per cent of infertile males little or no sperm are producedThe new study from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in the US in collaboration with the Wellcome Centre for Cell Biology at the University of Edinburgh in the UK may lead to potential theories on possible treatmentsldquoA significant cause of infertility in males is that they just cannot make sperm If you know exactly what is wrong there are technologies emerging right now that might give you a way to fix itrdquo said Stowers Investigator Scott Hawley In most sexually reproducing species including humans a critical protein structure resembling a latticelike bridge needs to be built properly to produce sperm and egg cellsThe study published in the journal Science Advances discovered that in mice changing a single and very specific point in this bridge caused it to collapse leading to infertility and thus providing insight into human infertility in males due to similar problems with meiosisMeiosis the cell division process giving rise to sperm and eggs involves several steps one of which is the formation of a large protein structure called the synaptonemal complexldquoA significant contributor to infertility is defects in meiosis To understand how chromosomes separate into reproductive cells correctly we are really interested in what happens right before that when the synaptonemal complex forms between themrdquo explained Hawley Lab and Wellcome Centre investigator Owen DaviesThe authors used a precise gene editing technique to make mutations in one key synaptonemal complex protein in mice which allowed the researchers for the first time to test the function of key regions of the protein in live animalsJust a single mutation predicted from the modeling experiments was verified as the culprit of infertility in miceldquoWe focused on a tiny little region of one protein in this gigantic structure that we were pretty sure could be a significant cause of infertilityrdquo said HawleyldquoWhat is really exciting to me is that our research can help us understand this really basic process that is necessary for liferdquo Billmyre addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever