Contents:
- Medical Video: Sperm Retrieval Procedures For Conception - Manipal Hospitals
- Why can the immune system attack sperm?
- Antisperm antibodies (ASA) in the male body
- Antisperm antibodies (ASA) in a woman's body
- Can you still get pregnant if the immune system attacks sperm?
Medical Video: Sperm Retrieval Procedures For Conception - Manipal Hospitals
If you have been trying for more than a year to get pregnant but have not succeeded, you or your partner may be infertile. There are various causes of infertility. However, did you know that your own immune system can reduce fertility? How could this happen, huh? Check out the full review below.
Why can the immune system attack sperm?
The human immune system is responsible for attacking foreign organisms that can cause disease or damage to the body. Be it bacteria, viruses, or germs.However, the immune system also seems to be wrong in attacking male sperm cells if it is considered a foreign organism.
To attack certain organisms, your immune system will produce antibodies. Antibodies have many types, depending on what organism is attacked. In this case, antibodies that attack sperm cells are called antisperm antibodies, abbreviated as ASA.
ASA can be produced both by the immune system in both male and female bodies. If ASA attacks sperm, the chance of conception and pregnancy becomes smaller.
Antisperm antibodies (ASA) in the male body
In healthy conditions, sperm are protected by the testicles and do not come into contact with blood. The antibodies themselves are in the blood. This means that sperm and antibodies should ideally not meet each other.However, due to certain diseases, injuries, infections, or surgery in the area of the testis, contact between sperm and blood containing antibodies can occur. The two components should never meet, so it's not surprising that the antibodies recognize sperm as an enemy. Since then, the body then produces ASA.
When antibodies meet objects that are considered foreign, the immune response begins. The goal is one: remove the foreign object so that the body remains safe and healthy. When ASA meets a sperm that is considered a foreign object, the body will try to fight sperm until it breaks.So, when a man secretes semen, there are no sperm cells that can fertilize a woman's uterus. This is one of the causes of infertility in men.
Antisperm antibodies (ASA) in a woman's body
In a woman's body, this immune reaction to sperm is not yet fully understood by experts. Further research is still needed to ascertain why the female immune system considers sperm as a dangerous organism that needs to be attacked.
In a woman's body ASA can attack at any time. Because the antibodies are not only found in the blood, but also in the vaginal fluid. So when sperm cells enter the vagina, ASA can attack and frustrate fertilization.
The ASA reaction also varies in each woman's body. There is ASA which reacts by clotting the sperm cells together so they cannot enter the uterus. There are also those that directly block sperm so they don't meet the egg.
So if your body has ASA, you will find it harder to get pregnant. Unfortunately the researchers haven't found out exactly what the risk factors for this disorder are in women. Indeed there is one theory that is still being developed to date. The theory suspects that if sperm quality is not good, for example because your partner smokes, the immune system of a woman sees the sperm cell as a threat to the reproductive system and must be stopped immediately.
Can you still get pregnant if the immune system attacks sperm?
Calm down, even though ASA can be an infertile cause, it doesn't mean you can't get pregnant at all. ASA will not make you sterile. The reason is, you can still work on a pregnancy by fertilization outside or in vitro fertilization (IVF).
When fertilization is done outside, sperm cells will not be attacked by ASA because they are not mixed with blood and are not in the female reproductive tract. So, the possibility of an embryo being formed is still there.
