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Nanoparticles may help treat mystery cases of infertility

A team of Oxford Academics have devised a method of ‘tagging’ sperm using nanoparticles, which could eventually lead to diagnosing causes of infertility currently unexplained by doctors.

The method uses a specific type of nanoparticle, synthesised by the University’s Department of Engineering Science, which attach to the sperm with no detrimental effects. The porous silica nanoparticles can be filled, or alternatively coated, with compounds to identify, diagnose, and perhaps even treat the causes of infertility. They are extremely small, at about 140nm- over 1/700 of the width of a human hair.

“An attractive feature of nanoparticles is that they are like an empty envelope that can be loaded with a variety of compounds and inserted into cells,” said Dr Natalia Barkalina, lead author of the study from the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Oxford University. “The nanoparticles we use don’t appear to interfere with the sperm, making them a perfect delivery vessel.”

The researchers successfully tested the method on boar sperm, showing how the nanoparticles associated well with the sperm whilst not causing any problems with sperm health. Dr. Barkalina remarked, “it seems to be a very simple and efficient method”.

Indeed, this method is not at all trivial. Senior author Dr. Kevin Coward commented, “Previous methods involved complicated procedures in animals and introduced months of delays before the sperm could be used. Now, we can simply expose sperm to nanoparticles in a petri dish. It’s so simple that it can all be done quickly enough for the sperm to survive perfectly unharmed.”

After this initial success the team intends to investigate whether they can fertilise eggs with tagged sperm in a model organism like the boar. Coward added, “We want to try and ‘probe’ or interfere with known biological systems to gain more information with respect to infertility. Eventually, we want to extend to look at the interaction between the human egg and sperm.

“Within a few years [we] may be able to explain or even diagnose rare cases in patients. In future we could even deliver treatments in a similar way.”

It is still early days, but the method seems to be a promising tool and has positive implications for infertile couples. The team observed, “this system should provide a swift and effective research tool which may lead to new understanding or new treatments.”

The work originally began in Spring 2011 and started life as a short project on the Msc in Clinical Embryology. Since then patent applications for the technique have been made by Isis Innovation, Oxford University’s technology transfer arm.

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