Fertility experts have discovered how the uterus performs quality control on a new embryo before determining whether to accept it. They hope the discovery will help develop new techniques to improve the success rate of IVF.
The team, from the UK Universities of Southampton and Warwick, and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, found if the endometrium - the lining of the uterus - fails to sense chemical signals from the fertilized egg, it silences many of the genes involved in allowing it to embed in the uterus.
One of the chemical signals the endometrium looks for is the amount of trypsin, a common enzyme, the embryo gives off.
If this is not detected, the embryo is not accepted and is left to disintegrate, resetting the cycle.
One of the study leaders, Nick Macklon, professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University of Southampton, notes:
"The lack of trypsin signals appear to indicate to the endometrium that the embryo's quality is not very high and initiates a reduction in receptivity to implantation."
Prof. Macklon presented the findings earlier this week at the University of Southampton's 2013 Institute for Life Sciences Conference. He also gave a talk about the work recently at the Society for the Study of Reproduction meeting in Montréal, Canada.
Prof. Macklon, who is also director of the Complete Fertility Centre at Southampton, says:
"One in six couples will experience some sort of infertility, which can be both frustrating and daunting, and many will turn to IVF."
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