Normal Female Fertility Research Articles

Plasma copper and zinc concentrations and infertility.

Plasma copper concentration was significantly lower in 48 infertile women than in 35 control subjects and somewhat lower in women with secondary rather than primary infertility. Plasma zinc concentration was not appreciably different in infertile and fertile women. Low plasma copper concentration may influence normal human female fertility.

Dysgenesis of testicular and streak gonads in the syndrome of mixed gonadal dysgenesis: Perspective derived from a clinicopathologic analysis of twenty-one cases

The clinical and pathologic aspects of 21 cases of mixed gonadal dysgenesis (MGD) were studied. The gonads in 15 patients consisted of a macroscopic testis and a streak gonad; six patients had variants, including two with bilateral testes and four with bilateral streak gonads or tumors. Functionally, the gonads were incompetent. Testes 1) failed to completely inhibit müllerian development, 2) failed to support full differentiation of mesonephric duct structures, 3) failed to adequately masculinize development of the external genitalia, or 4) often failed to mediate their own descent, resulting in asymmetry of the internal and external genitalia. None of the streak gonads mediated normal female adolescent development or fertility. Microscopic examination revealed that every gonad, regardless of its gross appearance, was morphologically abnormal. Although gonads with seminiferous tubules usually developed to a moderately advanced state, macroscopically resembling testes, the hilar zone remained architecturally disorganized; the cortex invariably lacked more than a rudimentary tunica albuginea or exhibited partial ovarian differentiation, sometimes even with a rare primordial follicle. Over time, the seminiferous tubules atrophied and hyalinized. Gonads that grossly resembled streak gonads were observed microscopically to be composed of a stroma resembling that of normal ovarian cortex. In patients more than several years of age, the entire complement of germ cells in streak gonads disappeared. It is suggested that patients with MGD be raised as females. Early removal of gonads will prevent the development of gonadoblastoma and dysgerminoma. If the uterus is retained and the patient is subsequently given exogenous estrogen, care should be taken to detect early any signs of the development of endometrial carcinoma or its precursor, to which these patients may be prone.

GENETIC ANALYSIS OF CHROMOMERE 3D4 IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER: THE DUNCE AND SPERM-AMOTILE GENES

Both male and female Drosophila that are homozygous deficient for chromomere 3D4 are viable but sterile and lack detectable cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase activity. Two genes have been localized to this region: spermamotile (sam) and dunce (dnc). The sperm-amotile gene is required for male fertility, and the dunce gene is required for normal learning, female fertility, and cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase activity. The sperm-amotile gene maps 0.24 map units to the left of dunce. The expression of the dunce gene seems to be affected by a chromosomal break to the left of sperm-amotile. The fertility of dunce females varies according to changes in the genetic background and the presence or absence of an X-linked suppressor.

A GENETICALLY DISTINCT FORM OF CYCLIC AMP PHOSPHODIESTERASE ASSOCIATED WITH CHROMOMERE 3D4 IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Two cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase enzymes (E.C.3.1.4.17) are present in homogenates of adult Drosophila melanogaster. The two enzymes differ from one another in heat stability, affinity for Mg++, Ca++ activation and molecular weight. They do not differ markedly in their affinities for cyclic AMP, and both exhibit anomalous Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The more heat-labile enzyme is controlled in a dosage-dependent manner by chromomere 3D4 of the X chromosome and is absent in flies that are deficient for chromomere 3D4. Chromomere 3D4 is also necessary for the maintenance of normal cAMP levels, for male fertility, and for normal female fertility and oogenesis. The structural gene(s) for the more heat-stable enzyme is located outside of chromomeres 3C12-3D4. Whether 3D4 contains a structural gene, or a regulatory gene necessary for the presence of the labile enzyme, remains to be determined.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF NULLOSOMY FOR A CHROMOSOMAL REGION AFFECTING CYCLIC AMP PHOSPHODIESTERASE ACTIVITY IN DROSOPHILA

A study of Drosophila nullosomic for chromomere 3D4 shows that this region of the genome is necessary for male fertility, normal female fertility and normal oogenesis. Males nullosomic for 3D4 lack normal, motile sperm. Females nullosomic for this region exert a maternal influence on their progeny which results in a diversity of imaginal defects. The observation that chromomere 3D4 is the most probable locus for a chromosomal region which affects cAMP phosphodiesterase activity, and which may contain a structural gene for the enzyme, prompts the hypothesis that the diverse physiological effects caused by nullosomy for 3D4 are the result of an aberrant cAMP metabolism.

CHROMOSOME PAIRING, FERTILITY, AND CROSSING BEHAVIOR OF HAPLOIDS OF TETRAPLOID ALFALFA, MEDICAGO SATIV A L.

Chromosomes paired mainly as bivalents at metaphase in 15 haploids (2n=2x=16) from 10 unrelated stocks of cultivated alfalfa (2n=4x=32). The apparent high degree of chromosome homology and hence autopolyploid chromosome behavior exhibited by the comparatively large sample agreed with that previously reported in independent studies of three other 2x haploids. No gross structural rearrangements of the chromosomes were detected. Haploids produced as much as 50% stainable pollen, but it was only 1-2% germinable in vitro, and they were all effectively male sterile, even when derived from normal male fertile stocks. Two haploids had normal female fertility, whereas forty-eight others were reduced in female fertility in varying degrees. Only four were completely sterile. Since meiosis was normal, the reduction in fertility was due to factors operating postmeiotically. Haploids used as seed parents produced mostly diploid progeny in crosses with diploid M. sativa and M. falcata, and mostly tetraploid progeny in crosses with tetraploids. A few trisomics, other aneuploids, and a pentaploid were also produced. Haploids and diploids derived from them produced a higher frequency of unreduced female gametes than wild diploids. 2x haploids of alfalfa appear to be useful in new approaches to genetic and breeding research, since large numbers can he obtained, they are crossable with wild and derived diploids, and their germplasm can be transferred back to the tetraploid level by unreduced gametes.

What is normal female fertility?: Whitelaw: p. 103

What is normal female fertility?: Whitelaw: p. 103

What Is Normal Female Fertility?

What Is Normal Female Fertility?