Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Jun;149(6):2790-7.
doi: 10.1210/en.2007-1581. Epub 2008 Mar 6.

Infertility in females with cystic fibrosis is multifactorial: evidence from mouse models

Craig A Hodges  1 , Mark R Palmert, Mitchell L Drumm
Affiliations

Infertility in females with cystic fibrosis is multifactorial: evidence from mouse models

Craig A Hodges et al. Endocrinology. 2008 Jun.

Abstract

Infertility is commonly associated with cystic fibrosis (CF). Although infertility in men with CF has been thoroughly investigated, the infertility observed in women with CF has not been well studied. To investigate female infertility associated with CF, we used two independently derived mouse models of CF. Both of these models displayed decreased fertility characterized by a reduction in litter number and litter size. Our findings suggest that much of the reduced fertility in these mice originates from decreased fertilization due to inadequate sperm transport within the female reproductive tract. However, our data indicate that additional reproductive phenotypes in the CF female mice also contribute to the reduced fertility including small ovarian and uterine size, aberrant estrous cycles, and decreased oocyte ovulation rates. These data, along with previous work demonstrating that the gene mutated in CF, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), is normally expressed in tissues vital to reproduction, raises the possibility that CFTR may have a direct effect on fertility. If so, CFTR may also play an important role in normal female fertility within the general population.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Morphology and histology of ovaries, uteri, and cervix of 7-wk-old wild-type and Cftr−/− females. A, Gross morphology of reproductive tracts of wild-type (left) and Cftr−/− females (center and right). Bar, 500 mm. Note the overall size reduction in Cftr−/− female tracts as well as the thinner uteri. B and C, Histology of ovaries from wild-type (B) and Cftr−/− females (C). Bar, 500 μm. Wild-type ovaries displayed CL (marked by asterisk), whereas the markedly smaller Cftr−/− ovaries rarely contained CLs, even though other follicle stages were present. D–F, Histology of cervices from wild-type (D) and Cftr−/− females (E and F). Of the 15 Cftr−/− females examined, the Cftr−/− mouse in (F) was the only one with obvious physical blockage in the cervix (marked by arrowhead). Bar, 250 μm.
Figure 2
Figure 2
FSH and LH levels in wild-type and Cftr mutant female mice. FSH (A) and LH (B) levels in wild-type (open bars), ΔF508 (black bars), and S489X (striped bars) female mice. *, Significantly different from wild-type mice (P < 0.05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Davis PB, Drumm M, Konstan MW 1996 Cystic fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 154:1229–1256 - PubMed
    1. Rowntree RK, Harris A 2003 The phenotypic consequences of CFTR mutations. Ann Hum Genet 67:471–485 - PubMed
    1. Welsh MJ, Tsui LC, Boat TF, Beaudet AL 1995 Cystic fibrosis. In: Scriver CR, Sly WS, Valle D, eds. The metabolic and molecular basis of inherited disease. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.; 3799–3863
    1. De Braekeleer M, Ferec C 1996 Mutations in the cystic fibrosis gene in men with congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens. Mol Hum Reprod 2:669–677 - PubMed
    1. Brugman S, Taussig L 1984 The reproductive system. In: Taussig L, ed. Cystic fibrosis. New York: Thieme Stratton Inc.; 323–337

Publication types