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The paternal inheritance of the centrosome, the cell's microtubule-organizing center, in humans, and the implications for infertility

Nature Medicine volume 1, pages 47–52 (1995)Cite this article

Abstract

Successful fertilization in humans, achieved when parental chromosomes intermix at first mitosis, requires centrosome restoration and microtubule-mediated motility. Imaging of inseminated human oocytes reveals that the sperm introduces the centrosome. The centrosome then nucleates the new microtubule assembly to form the sperm aster — a step essential for successful fertilization. Oocytes from some infertile patients failed to complete fertilization because of defects in uniting the sperm and egg nuclei, indicating that failure to properly effect the cytoplasmic motions uniting the nuclei results in human infertility. These discoveries have important implications for infertility diagnosis and managing reproduction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center,

    Calvin Simerly, Gwo-Jang Wu, Sara Zoran, Christopher Navara & Gerald Schatten

  2. Center for Reproductive Health, University of Irvine Medical Center, Orange, California, 92668, USA

    Teri Ord & Ricardo Asch

  3. Section of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Rush University, Chicago, Illinois, 60612, USA

    Richard Rawlins & Zvi Binor

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    Jeffrey Jones & Gerald Schatten

  5. Assisted Reproductive Technologies Program, Glenbrook Hospital, Glenview, Illinois, 60025, USA

    Marybeth Gerrity & John Rinehart

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  1. Calvin Simerly
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  2. Gwo-Jang Wu
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  7. Christopher Navara
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  12. Gerald Schatten
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Simerly, C., Wu, GJ., Zoran, S. et al. The paternal inheritance of the centrosome, the cell's microtubule-organizing center, in humans, and the implications for infertility. Nat Med 1, 47–52 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0195-47

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