Fertility: Prostaglandin receptors promote embryo implantation

“The motherhood penalty — the loss in lifetime earnings experienced by women raising children — has become the most significant driver of the gender pay gap,” the report said. — Image © AFP

A research team from Kumamoto University has uncovered a new mechanism that could revolutionize infertility care by promoting embryo implantation. The discovery focuses on prostaglandin (PG) receptors in the uterus that enhance the critical process of decidualization, which is necessary for a successful pregnancy.

This finding potentially opens the door to developing new fertility treatments that target these receptors.

Prostaglandins are bioactive lipids known for their role in body’s response to injury by causing fever and pain, but they are also crucial in reproductive processes like childbirth. Until now, the exact role prostaglandins played in embryo implantation was unclear.

The researchers discovered that when either the DP or EP4 receptor is stimulated, decidualization is enhanced, allowing the embryo to implant more effectively, further implying that both PGD2-DP and PGE2-EP4 receptor pathways compensate for each other’s function.

This discovery suggests that boosting these pathways with specialized drugs, called DP/EP4 agonists, could help women struggling with infertility due to implantation issues, and with it the possibility of innovative infertility therapies.

The research appears in the Journal of Lipid Research, titled “Uterine prostaglandin DP receptor induced upon implantation contributes to decidualization together with EP4 receptor.”

US company celebrates landmark

In related fertility news, the US medical services firm Reproductive Medicine Associates (RMA is celebrating its 25th year anniversary. The company has played a role in driving fertility medicine forward and delivering some breakthroughs in fertility. With the 25 year mark being celebrated, it should be noted that the field of reproductive endocrinology is only 50 years old.

This includes evidence-based science to support fertility preservation and infertility treatments with breakthroughs related to single embryo transfer, egg freezing, PGT-A testing, LGBTQ+ care, and more.

The company has published more than 1,000 published research papers to date – including more than a dozen clinical trials—and helping individuals achieve pregnancies.

Since RMA’s founding in 1999, the U.S. fertility network has accomplished life-changing reproductive medicine outcomes, achieved successful pregnancies leading to births of more than 50,000 healthy babies in New Jersey alone and set new standards for the entire industry which have redefined the practice of fertility medicine. 

The company was founded by Drs. Paul Bergh, Richard Scott, and Michael Drews, starting with the opening of a clinic in Morristown, New Jersey. Building on this foundation, RMA clinics and IVF laboratories now stretch from coast to coast, with locations in California, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington.

According to Lynn Mason, CEO of IVI RMA North America: “As we drive the future of fertility medicine, we remain committed to advancing reproductive care to make parenthood possible for more families and continually improving and expanding the RMA network to serve the roughly 1 in 6 Americans who struggle with infertility.”