Motile Cilia in Female and Male Reproductive Tracts and Fertility

Overview

Journal Cells

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Biochemistry
Biophysics
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2024 Dec 17

PMID 39682722

Authors

Dorota Wloga

Ewa Joachimiak

Anna Osinka

Salman Ahmadi

Sumita Majhi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Motile cilia are evolutionarily conserved organelles. In humans, multiciliated cells (MCCs), assembling several hundred motile cilia on their apical surface, are components of the monolayer epithelia lining lower and upper airways, brain ventricles, and parts of the reproductive tracts, the fallopian tube and uterus in females, and efferent ductules in males. The coordinated beating of cilia generates a force that enables a shift of the tubular fluid, particles, or cells along the surface of the ciliated epithelia. Uncoordinated or altered cilia motion or cilia immotility may result in subfertility or even infertility. Here, we summarize the current knowledge regarding the localization and function of MCCs in the human reproductive tracts, discuss how cilia and cilia beating-generated fluid flow directly and indirectly contribute to the processes in these organs, and how lack or improper functioning of cilia influence human fertility.

References

Hagiwara H, Harada S, Maeda S, Aoki T, Ohwada N, Takata K . Ultrastructural and immunohistochemical study of the basal apparatus of solitary cilia in the human oviduct epithelium. J Anat. 2002; 200(Pt 1):89-96. PMC: 1570880. DOI: 10.1046/j.0021-8782.2001.00004.x. View

Ruiz-Magana M, Llorca T, Martinez-Aguilar R, Abadia-Molina A, Ruiz-Ruiz C, Olivares E . Stromal cells of the endometrium and decidua: in search of a name and an identity†. Biol Reprod. 2022; 107(5):1166-1176. DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioac158. View

Shimogawa M, Wijono A, Wang H, Zhang J, Sha J, Szombathy N . FAP106 is an interaction hub for assembling microtubule inner proteins at the cilium inner junction. Nat Commun. 2023; 14(1):5225. PMC: 10460401. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40230-z. View

Westrom L, Mardh P, Mecklenburg C, HAKANSSON C . Studies on ciliated epithelia of the human genital tract. II. The mucociliary wave pattern of fallopian tube epithelium. Fertil Steril. 1977; 28(9):955-61. DOI: 10.1016/s0015-0282(16)42798-6. View

Holdsworth-Carson S, Menkhorst E, Maybin J, King A, Girling J . Cyclic processes in the uterine tubes, endometrium, myometrium, and cervix: pathways and perturbations. Mol Hum Reprod. 2023; 29(5). PMC: 10208902. DOI: 10.1093/molehr/gaad012. View

Yasunaga T, Wiegel J, Bergen M, Helmstadter M, Epting D, Paolini A . Microridge-like structures anchor motile cilia. Nat Commun. 2022; 13(1):2056. PMC: 9018822. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29741-3. View

Denholm R, More I . Atypical cilia of the human endometrial epithelium. J Anat. 1980; 131(Pt 2):309-15. PMC: 1233270. View

Samberg I, Degani S, Zilberman A, Eibschitz I, Nir I, Scharf M . Scanning electron microscopy of human Fallopian tube in ectopic pregnancy. Gynecol Obstet Invest. 1983; 16(2):65-75. DOI: 10.1159/000299226. View

Streubel J, Pereira G . Control of centrosome distal appendages assembly and disassembly. Cells Dev. 2023; 174:203839. DOI: 10.1016/j.cdev.2023.203839. View

10.

Ezzati M, Djahanbakhch O, Arian S, Carr B . Tubal transport of gametes and embryos: a review of physiology and pathophysiology. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2014; 31(10):1337-47. PMC: 4171403. DOI: 10.1007/s10815-014-0309-x. View

11.

Smith E, Yang P . The radial spokes and central apparatus: mechano-chemical transducers that regulate flagellar motility. Cell Motil Cytoskeleton. 2003; 57(1):8-17. PMC: 1950942. DOI: 10.1002/cm.10155. View

12.

Sasso S, Stibor H, Mittag M, Grossman A . From molecular manipulation of domesticated to survival in nature. Elife. 2018; 7. PMC: 6211829. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.39233. View

13.

Mareckova M, Garcia-Alonso L, Moullet M, Lorenzi V, Petryszak R, Sancho-Serra C . An integrated single-cell reference atlas of the human endometrium. Nat Genet. 2024; 56(9):1925-1937. PMC: 11387200. DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01873-w. View

14.

Wang X, Lee C, Vijayan M, Yeung W, Ng E, Wang X . Adrenomedullin insufficiency alters macrophage activities in fallopian tube: a pathophysiologic explanation of tubal ectopic pregnancy. Mucosal Immunol. 2020; 13(5):743-752. DOI: 10.1038/s41385-020-0278-6. View

15.

Paik D, Janzen D, Schafenacker A, Velasco V, Shung M, Cheng D . Stem-like epithelial cells are concentrated in the distal end of the fallopian tube: a site for injury and serous cancer initiation. Stem Cells. 2012; 30(11):2487-97. PMC: 4442093. DOI: 10.1002/stem.1207. View

16.

Kiesel P, Alvarez Viar G, Tsoy N, Maraspini R, Gorilak P, Varga V . The molecular structure of mammalian primary cilia revealed by cryo-electron tomography. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2020; 27(12):1115-1124. PMC: 7610599. DOI: 10.1038/s41594-020-0507-4. View

17.

Sironen A, Shoemark A, Patel M, Loebinger M, Mitchison H . Sperm defects in primary ciliary dyskinesia and related causes of male infertility. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2019; 77(11):2029-2048. PMC: 7256033. DOI: 10.1007/s00018-019-03389-7. View

18.

Tai L, Yin G, Huang X, Sun F, Zhu Y . In-cell structural insight into the stability of sperm microtubule doublet. Cell Discov. 2023; 9(1):116. PMC: 10663601. DOI: 10.1038/s41421-023-00606-3. View

19.

Hassan M, Subramanyan S . Ciliated renal tubular cells in crescentic glomerulonephritis. Ultrastruct Pathol. 1995; 19(3):201-3. DOI: 10.3109/01913129509064222. View

20.

Fu X, Guo X, Xu H, Li Y, Jin B, Zhang X . Varied cellular abnormalities in thin vs. normal endometrium in recurrent implantation failure by single-cell transcriptomics. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2024; 22(1):90. PMC: 11293141. DOI: 10.1186/s12958-024-01263-1. View