Research on mice with mutated mitochondria may help explain some cases of infertility among human males (Nakada K et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006;103:15148-15153).
In the study, the researchers created male "mito-mice" with different levels (from less than 10% to more than 80%) of mutant mitochondrial DNA. Mice with more than 70% mutant mitochondria had difficulty undergoing meiosis, the process through which sperm are produced. In addition, the sperm that the animals did produce had increased morphological abnormalities and decreased swimming ability.
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New research suggests that some male infertility might be caused by defective respiratory function in mitochondria. (Photo credit: P.M. Motta and T. Naguro/www.sciencesource.com)
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The researchers concluded that mitochondrial respiration activity is essential for mammalian spermatogenesis and suggested that "some cases of human male infertility with unknown etiology might result from mitochondrial respiratory dysfunction."
