Macrophages Deliver Mitochondria to Trigger Labour — SkimNews
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- Macrophages formed tube-like structures connecting to uterine muscle cells and transferred mitochondria into them, boosting ATP levels to fuel contractions during labour.
- The mitochondrial transfer also raised levels of a progesterone-degrading enzyme, suggesting human labour is triggered by a local progesterone drop inside uterine muscle cells — not a whole-body drop — resolving a decades-old puzzle.
- Existing tocolytic drugs, which relax the uterus to halt early contractions, typically delay labour by only a few days.
- Stephen Lye's team has tested a broad-spectrum chemokine inhibitor designed to block the initial monocyte recruitment that kicks off the cascade; it prevented preterm birth in four macaques but has not yet been tested in humans.
- The researchers are studying blood immune cells in people showing possible early-labour signs to identify who is truly at risk of delivering prematurely, with a long-term goal of a blood test predicting imminent labour at full term.
Why it matters: Preterm birth (before 37 weeks) raises the risk of cerebral palsy, learning difficulties, asthma, and vision and hearing problems, yet current tocolytics only buy a few days. Lye's chemokine-inhibitor approach blocked preterm birth in four macaques but hasn't entered human trials, leaving any clinical payoff years away.
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