Funding tool: Basic research projects
Project-ID: LS13-005
Project start: 01. Dezember 2014
Project end: will follow
Runtime: 36 months / finished
Funding amount: € 247.000,00

Brief summary:

Assisted reproductive technologies are being widely applied in animal breeding and human medicine. The knowledge of the maturation process of male gametes in the female reproductive tract to obtain fertilizing ability was a basic requirement for the development of these technologies. Despite considerable research, however, the success of in vitro fertilization procedures is often fairly low. To increase the success rates, the processes could be optimised to mimic the in vivo situation.
Current data provide evidence that male gametes instantly modulate the oviductal environment and thus regulate their own maturation and subsequently the fertilization success. However, our knowledge of the process is still fragmentary. In the proposed study we plan to identify the oviductal molecules responsible for the maturation of the spermatozoa when they enter the oviduct. This will be achieved by a comprehensive approach. The metabolic as well as protein profile of oviductal fluid samples collected after insemination will be analysed in a time-dependent manner. The uniqueness of the study results from the nature of the samples, collected in vivo using an animal model, and from the analysis of the early milieu in the female reproductive tract.
Detailed knowledge of the milieu in the female reproductive tract and the associated modulated cellular pathways could provide better conditions for in vitro processes and might help to improve fertilization ability.

Keywords:
oviductal fluid, secretome, metabolome, male gametes, fertilization