Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Cells, Microbes & Viruses => Topic started by: paul.fr on 18/07/2007 18:53:58
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I assume that when sperm enters a female it is a foreign substance, why does the bodys defences not then seek it out and attack it? I would guess there are special cells or something that guard the sperm, but what and why?
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LOL....I suppose it all depends upon where the sperm gains entry !!..LOL !. *gulp* [;)].......but methinks maybe this would only apply should spermywermy little taddywaddies enter the bloodstream which is does not methinks !!
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I assume that when sperm enters a female it is a foreign substance, why does the bodys defences not then seek it out and attack it? I would guess there are special cells or something that guard the sperm, but what and why?
well the bodies immune system is inside the body, within the blood, and sperm doesn't enter the blood stream. The Virgina does have a protective substance present, to prevent against infection I´m sure, but I cant remember what it's called though.
and the sperm is attacked, by that substance.
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there are actually women who are allergic to semen...
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there are actually women who are allergic to semen...
Does this then make them incapable of reproduction ?....or is there a way around this ?
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Good points made. However, I wonder how sperm have evolved to travel ad mostly survive in an environment which they have never entered before? I am sure that the vagina must have mucus and various immune cells and antibodies present on the epithelial surface. Maybe the sheer number of sperm present 'overwhelm' the vaginal immune system buying time for more motile sperm to escape into the surface. Just my opinion...
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Maybe a Test tube or proxy carrier!
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Good points made. However, I wonder how sperm have evolved to travel ad mostly survive in an environment which they have never entered before? I am sure that the vagina must have mucus and various immune cells and antibodies present on the epithelial surface. Maybe the sheer number of sperm present 'overwhelm' the vaginal immune system buying time for more motile sperm to escape into the surface. Just my opinion...
I think you've hit upon something here. It is in fact not easy to become pregnant !! and this would explain the sheer millions of sperm required so that just the one eventually manages to ' do the job '
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Maybe a Test tube or proxy carrier!
Would this really avoid the allergy though ?
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I don't know with the mother being allergic it may be possible that the egg itself might react even done through this method.
I read that one of the causes of infertility is that the women builds up antibodies to her partners sperm thus making it very difficult to conceive.. you can read more here at this link!
Infertility
http://www.walkswithhawksherbs.org/Infertility.html
I really don't know a lot but here is what I could find in a quick search!
From Discovery channel News Health
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/11/14/spermallergy_hea.html?category=health
Allergic to Your Husband? Blame Biology
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
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Nov. 14, 2006 —It's official: Women can actually become allergic to their husbands or other men, according to new research presented at this week's annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Philadelphia.
The culprit is semen, reports David Resnick, acting director of the Division of Allergy at The New York Presbyterian Hospital. It isn't sperm but accompanying proteins that can cause an allergic response, a phenomenon that is becoming more recognized among allergists, he said.
While there have been no reported deaths from an allergic response to semen, some women may require hospitalization after experiencing difficulty breathing, hives and swelling. Less severe cases may result in itching, burning and swelling after intercourse.
More women may have the reaction than are aware of it, said Resnick.
"Some women think there's another problem (such as an infection or condom allergy)," Resnick told Discovery News. But "in one survey, out of 1,073 women who sought related information from a researcher, approximately 13 percent were determined to have a semen allergy."
Sufferers, Resnick explained, produce an antibody that recognizes the proteins in a partner's semen. The antibody triggers a powerful immune response, similar in mild cases to hay fever. Some women are only allergic to the semen of a certain partner, but others react to multiple men.
Beyond the proteins unique to a given man, other allergens too can also be transmitted through the seminal fluid. These can include medications such as penicillin, and even some foods and beverages, such as walnuts and soft drinks. Women with other allergies tend to be more prone to semen allergies.
Two basic types of treatment are currently available. The first is similar to standard allergy treatments that expose a sufferer to the allergen in diluted doses.
The second involves removing other proteins known to sometimes interfere with the desensitization process from the semen plasma, and then injecting a small amount of the processed semen at regular intervals.
In both cases, frequent sexual contact is needed after the treatment.
"We actually had one case where the male spouse was unable to engage in such frequent intercourse, so his wife developed the allergy again," said Resnick.
Jonathan Bernstein, a professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati, and one of the world's leading experts on semen allergies, told Discovery News that he agrees with Resnick, but that he believes that the processed semen — though a more expensive treatment — would be more effective.
Bernstein also believes the allergy is probably underreported.
"It may not be as rare as people think," he said. "The allergy may go unrecognized, yet it can have a significant effect on relationships."
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That's a good question, but someone said its probably the amount. There is no way it can stop all of them.
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Good points made. However, I wonder how sperm have evolved to travel ad mostly survive in an environment which they have never entered before? I am sure that the vagina must have mucus and various immune cells and antibodies present on the epithelial surface. Maybe the sheer number of sperm present 'overwhelm' the vaginal immune system buying time for more motile sperm to escape into the surface. Just my opinion...
I would expect that the semen might have something to suppress the immune response (but that is a guess). The foetus certainly has the potential to evoke an immune response, but this is normally significantly (but not completely) suppressed.
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The immune response is only if there is direct contact between the mothers blood and that of the foetus. The blood supplies are close, but not actually mixed.
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The immune response is only if there is direct contact between the mothers blood and that of the foetus. The blood supplies are close, but not actually mixed.
Ahh!
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The immune response is only if there is direct contact between the mothers blood and that of the foetus. The blood supplies are close, but not actually mixed.
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/medicine_health/report-56604.html
n pregnancy the foetus secretes proteins that fool the immune system of the pregnant woman so that it will not attack the foetus. This is shown by Lucia Mincheva-Nilsson, associate professor and researcher at the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Umeå University, Sweden, in the leading publication Journal of Immunology.
http://www.bluesci.org/content/view/29/333/
Bianchi found male cells in 17 of the patients, but when she compared her results with those of the amniocenteses, she noticed that only 13 of the women were actually pregnant with boys. The other four women carrying cells with a Y chromosome had all been pregnant before: two of them had given birth to sons and the other two had had terminations. Bianchi then went on to analyse blood samples from eight non-pregnant mothers with sons. To her surprise, male DNA was present in six of the women, including one who had her last child, a boy, 27 years before the test.
Although the presence of foetal cells in the maternal circulation during pregnancy is a phenomenon documented as far back as 1969, the persistence of these foetal cells years, even decades, after pregnancy was a relatively novel concept. Soon after the publication of Bianchi's findings, Dr Lee Nelson from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle published a report on the association between enduring foetal cells and the incidence of certain auto-immune diseases in the mother. It had long been known that women are more susceptible to this type of disease than men, and these new findings offered a possible explanation for this phenomenon.