In Vitro Fertility Goddess

Fertility Cure? Implantation Secrets Revealed

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Tuesday 30 September 2008

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Scientists have made another significant breakthrough which has the potential to offer treatment for hundreds of thousands of couples who suffer from so-called unexplained infertility.

A team from Oxford University have for the first time been able to explain and film why some embryos don't implant in the womb.

The researchers discovered two distinct proteins which play a key role in the embryo's latching to the womb. What they found is that once the embryo comes into contact with the womb, chemical signals are sent which allow the embryo's cells to invade the womb and then make connection with the mother's blood supply to form the placenta.

Professor Helen J. Mardon who led the study says that with "many women, attachment and implantation doesn't happen and this is a major cause of infertility. The embryo and womb lining talk to each other, molecularly speaking, which allows them to interact. When the embryo lands on the surface of the uterus wall, it triggers a cascade of signals in both the embryo and uterus. The resulting changes allow the embryo to invade the lining."

The two proteins involved in the crucial latching process belong to the family of Rho GTPases proteins and are called Rac1 and RhoA. Professor Mardon described how they both work: "The first stimulates cells in the womb lining to move and allow the embryo to invade and implant properly while the second inhibits this. We believe this controlled balance of the two proteins is critical for successful implantation of the embryo."

Professor Mardon concluded that if the balance between these two proteins is altered, the cells of the womb lining won't move aside to allow for implantation.

Now that the process behind implantation and its potential failure have been discovered, it could lead to the development of drugs that help embryos implant properly.

In the meantine, if you are looking for some immediate answers and solutions to suspected implantation failure, I highly recommend you have a look at The Fertility Plan »  

It's basically a guide to overcoming infertility naturally, containing useful, well researched, practical and genuine tips to improve the chances of improving implantation and achieving a natural pregnancy. It also includes the equally good eBook Preventing Miscarriage »

Multiple Miscarriage Risk & Obesity

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Monday 22 September 2008

Source: Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Montreal

Obese women could be at greater risk of suffering multiple miscarriages.

New research has found that women who have already miscarried are more likely to miscarry again if they are over weight.

A team from St Mary's Hospital in London surveyed close to 700 women who had suffered a so-called unexplained miscarriage and found that the risk of a recurrent miscarriage increased by 73% among those who were obese.

Lead author and clinical nurse specialist Winnie Lo says the study is "the first to look directly at the link between BMI and recurrent miscarriage. It shows that obese women who experience recurrent miscarriage are at greater risk of subsequent pregnancy loss."

She added that "all women with recurrent miscarriage should be weighed at their first consultation. Those who are found to be obese should be advised regarding the benefits of weight loss in increasing their chances of a successful pregnancy and programs should be in place to help with the weight loss process."

However, one leading endocrinologist has warned obese pregnant women against undertaking crash diets during pregnancy as this has been shown to cause serious problems to the unborn baby.

Sarah Williams, IVFG Reporter

Natural Fertility Better Than IVF

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Monday 15 September 2008

Source: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

Natural fertility treatment has been found to be far more effective than IVF.

A study by the University of Utah looked at over 1000 fertility-challenged couples who used natural procreative technology treatment or NPT.

What they found is that 25% of them achieved a successful pregnancy, a success rate higher than average 18.4% for IVF.

The study also found that NPT also resulted in far fewer multiple births with only 4.6% of women becoming pregnant with more than one child compared with 34% rate among couples undergoing assisted reproductive technology including IVF.

The research is that much more significant because it is the first ever into the effectiveness of NPT to be published in a respected peer-reviewed medical journal.

Joseph Stanford from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City who lead the study hopes his research would help overcome the "current information deficit" surrounding NPT.

He told the Sunday Times that "many GPs and obstetricians are not aware of NPT because of a lack of published studies," and that "now physicians can inform themselves of this treatment approach and hopefully recommend it to their patients."

Another fertility expert Phil Boyle who works at a natural fertility clinic in Galway also hopes this research will help doctors refer patients to natural fertility centers because "for some couples, IVF does not work and NPT does."

NPT is also a much cheaper alternative to IVF, costing about 4 times less.