Bromfield John James
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Anim Reprod. 2024 Aug 5;21(3):e20240042. doi: 10.1590/1984-3143-AR2024-0042. eCollection 2024.
For nearly 100 years the postcoital inflammatory response has been described in the female reproductive tract of rodents. Since the 1950's this observation has been made in a number of animals including humans and domestic species. Yet pregnancy can be initiated and maintained by using embryo transfer which bypasses insemination and the related postcoital inflammatory response. Thus, the role of semen exposure beyond sperm transport and subsequent postcoital inflammatory response in female reproductive tissues has yet to be given a true physiological purpose. Historically the postcoital inflammatory response of female tissues was suggested to remove spermatozoa and male derived pathogens from the female reproductive tract. More recently, semen exposure and the postcoital inflammatory response have been suggested to play a role in long-term preparation of the maternal immune system to the semi-allogeneic pregnancy, ancillary support of the preimplantation embryo, and potentially fetal programing that improves pregnancy outcomes, while the absence or inappropriate postcoital inflammation has been suggested to contribute to pregnancy complications. Although the postcoital inflammatory response has been robustly characterized, the evidence for its role in promoting positive pregnancy outcomes or reducing pregnancy complications remains tenuous. This manuscript is designed to balance the information we know regarding semen exposure and postcoital inflammation in various animal systems, with the information we perceive to be factual but perhaps not yet fully tested, along with the data we have yet to generate if we intend to postulate a physiological purpose of the postcoital inflammatory response to pregnancy outcomes.
近100年来，啮齿动物雌性生殖道中的性交后炎症反应已被描述。自20世纪50年代以来，在包括人类和家畜在内的多种动物中都有这一观察结果。然而，通过胚胎移植可以启动并维持妊娠，胚胎移植绕过了授精以及相关的性交后炎症反应。因此，精液暴露在雌性生殖组织中除了精子运输及随后的性交后炎症反应之外的作用，尚未被赋予真正的生理意义。从历史上看，雌性组织的性交后炎症反应被认为是为了从雌性生殖道中清除精子和雄性来源的病原体。最近，精液暴露和性交后炎症反应被认为在母体免疫系统对半同种异体妊娠的长期准备、植入前胚胎的辅助支持以及可能改善妊娠结局的胎儿编程中发挥作用，而性交后炎症的缺失或不适当则被认为会导致妊娠并发症。尽管性交后炎症反应已得到充分描述，但其在促进良好妊娠结局或减少妊娠并发症方面作用的证据仍然不足。本手稿旨在平衡我们在各种动物系统中所了解的关于精液暴露和性交后炎症的信息，以及我们认为是事实但可能尚未充分验证的信息，还有如果我们想要假定性交后炎症反应对妊娠结局的生理意义而尚未生成的数据。
