Nassir Mayssam, Levi Mattan, Shaked Natan T
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
Bioengineering (Basel). 2024 Aug 20;11(8):852. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering11080852.
The fallopian tubes are essential for human fertility, facilitating the movement of sperm and oocytes to the fertilization site and transporting fertilized oocytes to the uterus. Infertility can result from changes in the fallopian tubes due to tubal endometriosis and women's aging. In this study, we modeled human fallopian tubes with and without endometriosis for different women's age groups to evaluate the chances of normal sperm cells reaching the fertilization site and oocytes arriving at the uterine cavity. For this purpose, we employed a distinctive combination of simulation tools to develop a dynamic three-dimensional (3D) model of normal human sperm cells and oocytes swimming inside normal and endometriosis-affected human fallopian tubes for different women's group ages. We observed that in tubal endometriosis cases, fewer sperm cells reach the fertilization site and more oocytes become trapped in the tube walls compared to normal tubes. Additionally, aging decreases the number of sperm cells and oocytes reaching the fertilization site in normal and endometriosis-affected tubes. Our model evaluates the mechanisms of sperm and oocyte behaviors due to women's aging and fallopian tube issues caused by endometriosis, presenting new avenues for developing diagnostic and treatment tools for tubal endometriosis and age-related infertility issues.
输卵管对人类生育至关重要，它能促进精子和卵母细胞向受精部位移动，并将受精卵输送至子宫。输卵管子宫内膜异位症和女性年龄增长导致的输卵管变化可引发不孕。在本研究中，我们针对不同年龄组的女性，构建了有无子宫内膜异位症的人类输卵管模型，以评估正常精子细胞到达受精部位以及卵母细胞抵达子宫腔的几率。为此，我们采用了独特的模拟工具组合，构建了一个动态三维（3D）模型，用于模拟不同年龄组女性的正常精子细胞和卵母细胞在正常及受子宫内膜异位症影响的人类输卵管内游动的情况。我们观察到，与正常输卵管相比，在输卵管子宫内膜异位症病例中，到达受精部位的精子细胞更少，更多的卵母细胞被困在输卵管壁上。此外，衰老会减少正常及受子宫内膜异位症影响的输卵管中到达受精部位的精子细胞和卵母细胞数量。我们的模型评估了女性衰老以及子宫内膜异位症导致的输卵管问题所引起的精子和卵母细胞行为机制，为开发针对输卵管子宫内膜异位症和与年龄相关的不孕问题的诊断及治疗工具提供了新途径。
