Pub Date : 2026-01-28DOI: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2025.105431
Giles Anthony Palmer, Begum Aydogan Mathyk, Jeffrey Jones, Blair T Stocks, Paul Root Wolpe, Virginia Wotring, Christopher E Mason, Jacques Cohen, Fathi Karouia
As the era of commercial and frequent spaceflight advances, the question of human fertility in space is no longer theoretical but urgently practical. Despite over 65 years of human spaceflight activities, little is known of the impact of the space environment on the human reproductive systems during long-duration missions. Extended time in space poses potential hazards to the reproductive function of female and male astronauts, including exposure to cosmic radiation, altered gravity, psychological and physical stress, and disruption to circadian rhythm. This review encapsulates current understanding of the effects of spaceflight on reproductive physiology, incorporating findings from animal studies, a recent experiment on sperm motility, and omics-based insights from astronaut physiology. Female reproductive systems appear to be especially vulnerable, with implications for oogenesis and embryonic development in microgravity. Male reproductive function reveals compromised DNA integrity, even when motility appears to be preserved. This review examines the limited embryogenesis studies in space, which show frequent abnormal cell division and impaired development in rodents. Alongside physiological findings, this review explores ethical issues of space work, particularly with increasing spaceflights involving non-professional astronauts and individuals of all ages. This convergence of space medicine, reproductive biology and bioethics represents a novel and critical intersection that warrants attention. Drawing from multidisciplinary fields, a collaborative framework is proposed for future research, aiming to catalyse cross-disciplinary dialogue and guide the next generation of reproductive biomedical research in space.
{"title":"Reproductive biomedicine in space: implications for gametogenesis, fertility and ethical considerations in the era of commercial spaceflight.","authors":"Giles Anthony Palmer, Begum Aydogan Mathyk, Jeffrey Jones, Blair T Stocks, Paul Root Wolpe, Virginia Wotring, Christopher E Mason, Jacques Cohen, Fathi Karouia","doi":"10.1016/j.rbmo.2025.105431","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2025.105431","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As the era of commercial and frequent spaceflight advances, the question of human fertility in space is no longer theoretical but urgently practical. Despite over 65 years of human spaceflight activities, little is known of the impact of the space environment on the human reproductive systems during long-duration missions. Extended time in space poses potential hazards to the reproductive function of female and male astronauts, including exposure to cosmic radiation, altered gravity, psychological and physical stress, and disruption to circadian rhythm. This review encapsulates current understanding of the effects of spaceflight on reproductive physiology, incorporating findings from animal studies, a recent experiment on sperm motility, and omics-based insights from astronaut physiology. Female reproductive systems appear to be especially vulnerable, with implications for oogenesis and embryonic development in microgravity. Male reproductive function reveals compromised DNA integrity, even when motility appears to be preserved. This review examines the limited embryogenesis studies in space, which show frequent abnormal cell division and impaired development in rodents. Alongside physiological findings, this review explores ethical issues of space work, particularly with increasing spaceflights involving non-professional astronauts and individuals of all ages. This convergence of space medicine, reproductive biology and bioethics represents a novel and critical intersection that warrants attention. Drawing from multidisciplinary fields, a collaborative framework is proposed for future research, aiming to catalyse cross-disciplinary dialogue and guide the next generation of reproductive biomedical research in space.</p>","PeriodicalId":21134,"journal":{"name":"Reproductive biomedicine online","volume":" ","pages":"105431"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146119875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-23DOI: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2026.105463
Barbara Lawrenz, Baris Ata
The cumulative live birth rate in assisted reproductive technology is directly proportional to oocyte yield; therefore, ovarian stimulation seeks to optimize the oocyte yield from treatment. Despite the inevitable attrition during the culture, some couples may encounter an excess of embryos, resulting in the dilemma of how to manage their surplus embryos. The fate of surplus and unneeded embryos is contingent upon the legal framework and couples' preferences. A paradigm shift from surplus embryo cryopreservation to surplus oocyte cryopreservation prior to insemination may address these concerns. The availability of euploid blastocysts serves as the nearest surrogate marker for the likelihood of a live birth in subsequent embryo transfers, and current predictive models can calculate the average number of oocytes required to obtain one or more euploid blastocysts based on female age. Given the challenges of customizing ovarian stimulation to yield a precise number of oocytes, limiting oocyte insemination and cryopreserving the surplus oocytes may effectively prevent the creation of unwanted embryos. This 'smart insemination - preserving the rest' strategy will not eliminate the need for gamete storage; nonetheless, it may reduce the number of possibly unwanted embryos stored and address the complex issue of their management.
{"title":"Rethinking insemination for good-prognosis couples: the emotional and ethical burden of cryopreserved embryos never transferred.","authors":"Barbara Lawrenz, Baris Ata","doi":"10.1016/j.rbmo.2026.105463","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2026.105463","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The cumulative live birth rate in assisted reproductive technology is directly proportional to oocyte yield; therefore, ovarian stimulation seeks to optimize the oocyte yield from treatment. Despite the inevitable attrition during the culture, some couples may encounter an excess of embryos, resulting in the dilemma of how to manage their surplus embryos. The fate of surplus and unneeded embryos is contingent upon the legal framework and couples' preferences. A paradigm shift from surplus embryo cryopreservation to surplus oocyte cryopreservation prior to insemination may address these concerns. The availability of euploid blastocysts serves as the nearest surrogate marker for the likelihood of a live birth in subsequent embryo transfers, and current predictive models can calculate the average number of oocytes required to obtain one or more euploid blastocysts based on female age. Given the challenges of customizing ovarian stimulation to yield a precise number of oocytes, limiting oocyte insemination and cryopreserving the surplus oocytes may effectively prevent the creation of unwanted embryos. This 'smart insemination - preserving the rest' strategy will not eliminate the need for gamete storage; nonetheless, it may reduce the number of possibly unwanted embryos stored and address the complex issue of their management.</p>","PeriodicalId":21134,"journal":{"name":"Reproductive biomedicine online","volume":"52 4","pages":"105463"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146258927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-01DOI: 10.1016/S1472-6483(25)00654-6
{"title":"Inside Front Cover - Affiliations and First page of TOC","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S1472-6483(25)00654-6","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S1472-6483(25)00654-6","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21134,"journal":{"name":"Reproductive biomedicine online","volume":"52 1","pages":"Article 105447"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146037262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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