Caffeine Reducing Fertility in Women?
Reported May 31, 2011
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Caffeine reduces muscle activity in the Fallopian tubes
that carry eggs from a woman's ovaries to her womb, according to a new study.
"Our experiments were conducted in mice, but this finding goes a long way
towards explaining why drinking caffeinated drinks can reduce a woman's chance
of becoming pregnant," Professor Sean Ward from the University of Nevada School
of Medicine, Reno, was quoted as saying.
Human eggs are microscopically small, but need to travel to a woman's womb if
she is going to have a successful pregnancy. Although the process is essential
for a successful pregnancy, scientists know little about how eggs move through
the muscular Fallopian tubes. It was generally assumed that tiny hair-like
projections, called cilia, in the lining of the tubes, waft eggs along assisted
by muscle contractions in the tube walls.
By studying tubes from mice, Professor Ward and his team discovered that
caffeine stops the actions of specialized pacemaker cells in the wall of the
tubes. These cells coordinate tube contractions so that when they are inhibited,
eggs can't move down the tubes. In fact these muscle contractions play a bigger
role than the beating cilia in moving the egg towards the womb. "This provides
an intriguing explanation as to why women with high caffeine consumption often
take longer to conceive than women who do not consume caffeine," says Professor
Ward.
Discovering the link between caffeine consumption and reduced fertility has
benefits. "As well as potentially helping women who are finding it difficult to
get pregnant, a better understanding of the way Fallopian tubes work will help
doctors treat pelvic inflammation and sexually-transmitted disease more
successfully," said Professor Ward. It could also increase our understanding of
what causes ectopic pregnancy, an extremely painful and potentially
life-threatening situation in which embryos get stuck and start developing
inside a woman's Fallopian tube.
SOURCE: British Journal of Pharmacology, published online May 26, 2011
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