Abstract
With the advent of assisted reproductive technology in the past three decades, the clinical importance of fallopian tubes has been relatively overlooked. However, successful spontaneous conception requires normal function of the tube to provide not only a conduit for the gametes to convene and embryo to reach the uterine cavity, but also a physiologically optimized environment for fertilization and early embryonic development. In this review, after a brief description of normal human tubal anatomy and histology, we will discuss tubal transport and its principal effectors, including ciliary motion, muscular contractility and tubal fluid. Furthermore, we will discuss the ciliary ultrastructure and regulation of ciliary beat frequency by ovarian steroids, follicular fluid, angiotensin system, autonomic nervous system and other factors such as adrenomedullin and prostaglandins. In the last section, we describe the adverse impact of various pathological conditions, such as endometriosis, infection and smoking on tubal function and ciliary motility.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1337-1347 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 23 2014 |
Keywords
- Cilia
- Ciliary beat frequency
- Fallopian tube
- Tubal fluid
- Tubal transport
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Reproductive Medicine
- Genetics
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Developmental Biology
- Genetics(clinical)