Women's Health Series: How Acupuncture treats Women Infertility according to Science

Infertility is a health problem that is marked by the inability to establish a clinical pregnancy after 12 months of regular unprotected sex.

It should be noted that both men and women play a part in the pregnancy process and that acupuncture is able to help both parties to improve the individual health condition to increase the chances of success for pregnancy.

In this article, we will focus on how acupuncture can help women infertility as explained by Science.

Book Appointment

Causes of Women Infertility

Poor lifestyle

With poor diet, pollution, radiation and other environmental hazards, the incidences of reproductive illnesses and hormonal imbalances have increased significantly. Some of the common illnesses and imbalances that hinder fertility and may even lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes are premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), chronic endometriosis (CE) and endometrial polyps.

Stress

Stress produces stress hormones or cortisol which upset the regular hormone balance in women, especially those hormones related to women’s health and pregnancy. In addition, stress results in aggravation of existing body tissues inflammation which is prominent in any illnesses including reproductive illnesses as mentioned above. As such, fertility is heavily compromised with the exacerbation of hormonal imbalances and aggravation of any possible existing reproductive system diseases.

Female reproduction is controlled mainly by the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovary (HPO) axis. Chronic stress directly acts on the hypothalamus to produce more corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and also activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to result in production of more cortisol. CRH and cortisol are known as glucocorticoids which when elevated will antagonize and work against the effects of estrogen, which is needed for regular ovulation and results in ovulatory dysfunction, one of the main causes of infertility.

Age

Increased age has also been regarded as one of the important contributing factors to female fertility. It was said that by age 30, women fertility starts to decline.

Physiological and Functional Reproductive Conditions

Abnormal Cervical Mucus

The function of cervical mucus is to prevent pathogenic microorganisms from entering the uterus and infecting the endometrium, therefore it is naturally viscous. During ovulation, the cervical mucus is regulated by changes in biochemical interactions and reactions to become slightly more permeable to facilitate sperm entrance into the uterus.

Abnormal cervical mucus will affect sperm penetration which will make it difficult to enter the cervix.

Oocyte Quality

Oocyte is the egg that each follicle encapsulates with granulosa cells and follicular membrane cells. Quality of oocyte can directly impact success rate of fertility and subsequent processes of pregnancy.

Ovulatory Dysfunction

Ovulatory dysfunction is the leading cause of infertility. Female reproduction is controlled mainly by the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovary (HPO) axis and it is also this axis that regulates ovulation.

Ovulatory dysfunction mainly includes irregular ovulation and no ovulation and patients with ovulatory dysfunction will often experience thinning of menstruation or absence of menstruation/amenorrhea. If women infertility is caused by ovulatory dysfunction, it can often suggest reproductive hormone imbalance.

Tubal Obstruction

Obstructions in the fallopian tube will directly block the combination of sperm and egg, resulting in infertility. Common causes of tubal obstructions are surgery, endometriosis, Neisseria gonorrhea, Chlamydia trachomatis.

Endometrial Damage

A good endometrium is needed for successful pregnancy with successful embryo implantation. Endometrial polyps, endometriosis, adenomyosis, fibroids and other lesions can directly damage the endometrium and hinder embryo implantation.

How Acupuncture treats Women Infertility according to Science

Improves Blood Flow

Generally, acupuncture can increase blood flow and improve circulation to the uterus, nourishing the uterus in preparation to receive the embryo.

Improves Nervous System

Acupuncture can also destress and calm the nerves which can help to reduce the production of cortisol or stress hormones which go against regular ovulation that is necessary for fertility and successful pregnancy. Read about Acupoint Medicine Dan Zhong on self love and self care here.

Improves Hormone System and Biochemical Processes for Reproductive System Fertility

Acupuncture can modulate and regulate multi-systems in the body such as the endocrine, vascular, nervous systems which can help improve ovulation.

As seen from above, causes of infertility can be varied, therefore we need to apply acupuncture according to the type of infertility with the understanding of the causative factors to achieve maximum efficacy. Specifically, acupuncture helps regulate female reproductive hormones and various cellular and immune signaling molecules which can aid in improving women fertility through improving the physiological and functional reproductive conditions of the female reproductive system, including follicular development, regulating ovulation, embryo implantation.

Restoration of Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Ovary Axis

For women who are infertile, there exists high gonadotropins Gn which includes follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) that inhibit follicular growth through inhibiting the secretion of estrogen (E2) and progesterone (P). This will result in irregular ovulation which brings about infertility.

Acupuncture can restore normal reproductive hormone levels through the reduction of GnRH, FSH, LH and at the same time increasing E2 and P.

Improvement in Ovarian Function

There are two main pathways for improvement of ovarian function: reducing the dying off or apoptosis of granulosa cells in follicles and improving the ovarian internal environment.

Acupuncture can improve the proliferation of granulosa cells by increasing the expression of BCL-2 gene and reduce the expression of BAX gene to reduce the apoptosis of granulosa cells so that they can provide the necessary nutrients required for maturation of the ovum or egg. This will aid in follicular development, hence fertility.

Acupuncture can reduce the expression of nerve growth factor (NGF), corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) to reduce inflammation in the ovary and promote blood supply to the ovary so that the internal ovarian environment is conducive for follicular development.

Improvement in Embryo Implantation

Acupuncture can improve embryo implantation by three pathways.

Firstly, acupuncture can modulate autoimmunity by increasing expression of CCL2 gene so as to reduce the immune response to embryos which the body may see as foreign objects. Acupuncture can also increase the expression of CXCL8 and MMP-2 so that the embryo can physically connect with the endometrial lining.

Secondly, acupuncture improves the feeding of nutrients between the maternal endometrium and the embryo by increasing the expression of VEGF, ANG2 and PGF in a process known as angiogenesis.

Lastly, acupuncture directly aids in the development of embryos in the endometrium by increasing expression of IGF-1 gene responsible for embryo growth.