"Research into a genetic mutation causing some men to be infertile shows that an important protein in the sperm that is a key component of the egg fertilization process, known as phospholipase C zeta (PLC-zeta), is ineffective in these individuals.
The investigators found that they could restart the fertilization process in the lab by injecting eggs with a higher amount of the PLC-zeta protein from the infertile men than found naturally in their sperm, which suggests that this type of infertility could become reversible with medical assistance.
"Recent clinical studies have highlighted the crucial importance of PLC-zeta in human fertilization, reporting that sperm from infertile patients, who exhibited failed fertilization even after the most powerful in vitro fertilization techniques, contained either reduced amounts or mutated forms of this protein," said Dr Michail Nomikos (Qatar University, Doha, Qatar) lead author of the Biochemical Journal paper.
"Our ultimate goal is to use the tools that we are currently developing not only to treat, but also diagnose, the cases of male infertility associated with absent or dysfunctional PLC-zeta protein in human sperm."
It has been known for some time that an essential part of the human fertilization process is a repetitive, dramatic increase in calcium levels in the egg known as 'calcium oscillations' triggered by a message from the sperm that happens just before an embryo begins to form. This calcium increase is vital for all the early events of fertilization and early embryo development..."
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