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Title: Researchers identify semen protein that acts on female brain
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URL Source: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/healt ... emale+brain/7125599/story.html
Published: Aug 22, 2012
Author: Janet French, The StarPhoenix
Post Date: 2012-08-22 04:06:07 by Tatarewicz
Keywords: None
Views: 121
Comments: 1
Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan have identified a hormone in semen that nudges a woman's body to ovulate. It's a finding that could potentially open up new testing and treatment of infertility in both women and men, and might explain some "oops" babies. In a new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Saskatoonbased researchers and their colleagues in Chile went sleuthing in llamas and cows for the identity of a seminal fluid protein they'd previously found that sends a signal to a female's brain. That signal prompts the female brain to release hormones that stimulate ovulation. Veterinary biomedical sciences Prof. Gregg Adams, who's with the university's Western College of Veterinary Medicine, says he expected to find a brand new protein in the seminal fluid. Much to their surprise, they found the poorly understood protein - called ovulationinducing factor, or OIF - is the same molecule as an old friend in the nervous system that's critical for normal neuron function. "I didn't know whether to laugh or cry in my beer after that," Adams said. The researchers doubleand triple-checked the match using several methods, including a run through the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, to unveil its threedimensional structure. Adams has since decided the discovery is a blessing since there's already a wealth of information on the chemical's function in the nervous system. The function of seminal fluid, which is secreted by male glands and mixed with sperm before its travels out of the body, is described as "enigmatic" in the PNAS paper. Adams said Chinese researchers first published studies in the 1980s indicating camels may have something in their semen that affected female camels' ovulation. "Nobody really believed it and we ignored it for some time," he said. Researchers have now found the same protein in the seminal fluid of 10 different mammals, its ubiquity suggesting it plays an important role in reproduction. Some mammals, such as camels, llamas, koalas, rabbits and cats, ovulate in response to intercourse, and scientists weren't sure why, Adams said. It could be pheromones, or just the physical interaction that prompted follicles to pop eggs out of the ovaries, they thought. "It's not that at all," he said. "It's an actual chemical substance in the semen that's causing it." In species such as cows and humans, females ovulate in a cycle, but they, too, are influenced by the OIF protein, Adams said. In his cow studies, females that received injections of OIF from males' semen began to ovulate in sync compared to cows not receiving the treatment. Studies elsewhere found the chemical kick-started ovulation early in pre-pubescent mice. The presence of OIF may also explain why some women ovulate - and get pregnant - when they didn't think they were ovulating. Adams said follicles in the ovaries experience waves of activity, and it's on a third and final wave the ovary spits out an egg. The presence of OIF from semen might be enough of a nudge to prompt an ovary to push out an egg on an earlier wave. That could explain why some couples using the "rhythm method" of birth control conceive, he said. "It makes this funky hormone the males have a little scary for the female," Adams quipped. Next on Adams's to-do list is figuring out whether the amount of OIF in seminal fluid affects a male's fertility. It's possible animals with low amounts of the protein are less fertile, and that females who are less sensitive to the hormone may also be less fertile. If proven, it opens up a new avenue for the diagnosis and treatment of infertility in both men and women, Adams said. "Maybe we can put OIF in a pill," he said. The chemical could also potentially be a new target for contraception, Adams said. The research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Alpaca Research Foundation, the Chilean National Science and Technology Research Council, the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. jfrench@thestarphoenix.com © Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix Read more: www.thestarphoenix.com/he.../story.html#ixzz24G9sh3Gb
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#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
I could make two or three risque comments about this article......
-Alex Kurtagic
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