Question

In 2017, the first baby was born in the U.S. to a mother who had received a uterus transplant,

meaning a uterus donated by another human female was implanted into the mother and this

a transplanted uterus was the site of implantation, and development of the fetus to term. Obviously, this type of medical procedure is not without challenges and risks. Briefly describe three possible challenges of uterus transplantation (anywhere from initial surgery to childbirth) - one challenge must relate to the immune system, one challenge must relate to the reproductive system, and one challenge must relate to development. Your answers do not necessarily need to be medically perfect (none of us have medical degrees, yet) but they should reflect your understanding of the three systems, supported by details of the structures and processes that might be involved in the challenges you identify.

Answer 1

- Immune system: All transplants come with immune systems issues, the body tends to reject the organs. The immune system identifies the cells from a different origin and start to destroy it, causing life threating episodes to the individual in question. To avoid this, individuals that recieved organ transplants need to take immune system supressors. A woman with an uterus transplant needs to take immune supressor since the surgery and through the whole pregnancy event. This supressors risk the woman's life, as a low immune system activity won't bring any other benefits beside avoiding organ rejection.

- Reproductive system: The reproductive system, specially the female system, works in a very complex hormone signaling manner, so the risk in this case is related achieving a proper response from the new uterus to the new hormonal signaling. Based on the womans hormone cycle, the new uterus has to start menstruating and needs to be able to recieve a zygote and generate a placenta to start development. If the uterus is not able to do any of this functions, then the transplant is not a success.

- Child's development: A child's prenatal development is a process that requires a lot of support, both physical and chemical. First of all, the uterus internal environment has to be right in order for the embryo to succesfully implant during an embryo transfer event (natural fertilization and implantation is not recommended). Then, the uterus has to be able to produce the placenta to feed the embryo. If all of this is going right, and the embryos grows, the initial surgery needs to be succesfull in correctly fixing the uterus to the pelvic fascia, in order to have the strength to carry a product of some extra kilograms.