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Understanding the terms Fertility and Conception
Getting pregnant isn’t as simples as the stories we use to hear about the birds and the bees, the whole process is extremely intricate and complicated, and many terms are misinterpreted and misconstrued. We would like to define some of the most popular and misapprehended pregnancy terms including fertility and conceiving as well as terms related to these processes namely corona radiate, acrosome reaction, zona pellucida and cortical reaction.
Conception is largely defined exactly the same as fertilization, the union between the egg and the sperm which sprigs forth the creation of human life. Fertility is the ability to conceive and get pregnant by means of natural methods without contraception. It depends on various factors ranging from producing a sufficient amount of mature and mobile sperm by the man, delivery of the sperm and then the passage through the uterus up into the fallopian tubes. Successful pregnancy will then be achieved by penetration of a normal ovum (an egg) by one of the sperm which will then have to become implanted in the lining in the uterus once it’s been fertilized. It’s therefore safe to say that fertility and conceiving are the two most important processes and states to understand when you want to become pregnant.
In a more technical sense, fertilization is achieved by the fusion of the nuclei of a sperm with an egg. The only way the egg will bind with the sperm is by a layer of follicle cells on the outside of the secondary oocyte, namely the corona radiate. An acrosome reaction must then occur in order to mobilize enzymes within the head of the spermatozoon which will then degrade the zona pellucida. Once the sperm has then reached the zona pellucida, an extra cellular matrix of glycoprotein’s, the molecule on the head of the sperm binds to a ZP2 glycoprotein which will trigger the acrosome to burst and then release enzymes to help the sperm move through the zona pellucida. Some of the sperm cells then prematurely consume their acrosomes from the surface of the egg which facilitates for surrounding sperm cells to penetrate the egg cell. The cortical reaction enables the cortical granules inside the secondary oocyte to fuse with the plasma membrane of the cell; this reaction eliminates the possibility of an egg being fertilized by more than one sperm.
Its therefore evident that fertility and conception are indeed made up by a series of very elaborated processes, and if even one aspect is inadequate, conceiving a baby will be unsuccessful. If you find that you are having trouble with fertility and conceiving, feel free to contact us for advice.
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