FUNCTION AND STRUCTURE OF CILIA IN THE FALLOPIAN-TUBE OF AN INFERTILEWOMAN WITH KARTAGENERS-SYNDROME

In Kartagener's syndrome (KS), primary defects of the ciliary axoneme cause dyskinetic ciliary motion, Because ciliary motion is an importan t factor in normal ovum transport, ciliary dyskinesia may cause infert ility, On the other hand, the existence of some ciliary activity, albe it abnormal, may account for fertility in some women with KS, In this case study, an infertile woman diagnosed with KS had normal results in all usual infertility tests, Biopsies of tubal mucosa were obtained a t laparoscopy for ovum recovery during an in-vitro fertilization cycle , Ciliary activity, measured by laser light-scattering spectroscopy, w as detected in all tubal specimens; however the majority of regions sa mpled showed no activity, In active regions, beat frequency ranged fro m 5 to 10 Hz, similar to 30% of normal, Electron microscopy showed sim ilar morphological defects in both tubal and nasal mucosa. The number of cilia per cell was similar to 20% of normal. The major ultrastructu ral abnormality of cilia was an absence of the central microtubules, T he only demonstrable explanation for this patient's infertility was pr imary ciliary dyskinesia associated with KS.