Brazilian researchers have identified a previously unrecognized function of sperm that is unrelated to reproduction. A study of 13 patients admitted to the Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, with moderate to severe COVID-19 showed that male gametes released extracellular traps (in a process called ETosis) in response to the infection. This immune response, which is common to macrophages and neutrophils, had never been observed in mammalian reproductive cells.
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The new findings indicate that the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection can continue for as long as 90 days after symptoms and signs disappear and affect sperm count and gamete quality for even longer. “With the sperm selection technique, you are at risk of taking a cell with viruses and injecting it into the egg. It is not known what changes this may cause to the embryo,” said Hallak.
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