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Scientists have tried to find the cause of women's abnormal infertility
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
Primary or idiopathic infertility is a medical term that means that by all indications a woman can become pregnant, but this does not happen. This diagnosis often baffles both doctors and the woman herself. American specialists representing the Baylor College of Medicine, which is located in Houston (Texas), tried to understand this issue.
The diagnosis of abnormal or unexplained infertility is, in fact, a kind of challenge for scientists around the world. After all, it is indirectly an admission of the imperfect diagnostic capabilities of modern medicine and science. According to statistics, about 40 years ago, doctors made such a diagnosis to every second married couple. However, with the gradual improvement of diagnostic methods, this percentage has been slowly but surely decreasing. Today, an unexplained cause of primary infertility is registered in about 10-15% of women. And this is still a fairly high figure. Therefore, specialists cannot ignore this situation.
According to scientists, the problem of idiopathic infertility of unknown origin may lie in gene mutations.
Experts were able to discover that DNA disorders that result in loss of functionality of genes belonging to the NLRP family lead to disruption of placental development, to the loss of the embryo before implantation, or to the birth of a child with multiple developmental defects.
It is mutations, as experts believe, that are the initial causes of idiopathic unexplained infertility.
To confirm their guesses about the influence of the disrupted inactivated genes NLRP2 and NLRP7 on the reproductive processes in the female body, the researchers conducted an experimental experiment on rodents. And, despite the fact that mice are considered to be carriers of only the first gene (NLRP2), the scientists made the assumption that its significance can be equated to the second gene (NLRP7).
Rodents that were genetically modified to block the activity of a certain DNA were no different from other similar animals: they were absolutely healthy and felt great. But the females of these mice, as scientists discovered, lost the ability to conceive, or did become pregnant, but their offspring had significant developmental deficiencies. The mutation of the same gene in males did not manifest itself in any way - they could mate with healthy females and produce normal offspring.
Analyzing the results obtained by scientists, we can conclude that a person still does not know much about the characteristics of his body. Is it possible to overcome the invisible barrier on the way to a long-awaited pregnancy, and should infertile women hope that their problem will be solved soon? These questions are yet to be answered by specialists. And we hope that this answer will be positive.
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