{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,2]],"date-time":"2025-11-02T03:05:22Z","timestamp":1762052722275,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,2]],"date-time":"2022-06-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1654128000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diagnostics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Tubal factor is an important contributor to female infertility, and the current diagnostic approaches cannot correctly identify many subtle causes of tubal dysfunction. While it is known that the most common cause of tubal factor infertility is pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), creating critical alterations of the tubal epithelium, little attention has been devoted to understanding the tubal modifications caused by the resident microbial population and their interaction with the surrounding tubal epithelium. Furthermore, most of these samples are obtained by traumatic procedures such as direct sampling during laparoscopy using a cytobrush. However, as in any other organ of the female genital tract, the microbiota environment of the fallopian tube plays an essential role in maintaining tubal functioning, counteracting the pathogenic effect of acquired microbes. Consequentially, to better analyze the tubal microbiota without causing anatomical and\/or functional alteration of the fallopian tube and preserving fertility, the hysteroscopic approach might be the method of choice, guarantying maximal integrity of the uterine cavity and tubal lumen. Here we describe our plan for using atraumatic hysteroscopic sampling methods to investigate the correlation between tubal microbiota and female infertility.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diagnostics12061375","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,2]],"date-time":"2022-06-02T11:05:02Z","timestamp":1654167902000},"page":"1375","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["A New Methodology to Assess Fallopian Tubes Microbiota and Its Impact on Female Fertility"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6871-6097","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Salvatore Giovanni","family":"Vitale","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit, Department of General Surgery and Medical Surgical Specialties, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5716-4933","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jose","family":"Carugno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Minimally Invasive Gynecology Unit, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences Department, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33136, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9874-1488","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maurizio Nicola","family":"D\u2019Alterio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Cagliari, 09042 Cagliari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1365-8704","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mislav","family":"Miku\u0161","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital Center Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pasquale","family":"Patrizio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Minimally Invasive Gynecology Unit, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences Department, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33136, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2314-0028","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefano","family":"Angioni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Cagliari, 09042 Cagliari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"157","article-title":"Current management of tubal infertility: From hysterosalpingography to ultrasonography and surgery","volume":"8","author":"Briceag","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Med. Life"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.1097\/00007435-199207000-00001","article-title":"Pelvic inflammatory disease and fertility. A cohort study of 1,844 women with laparoscopically verified disease and 657 control women with normal laparoscopic results","volume":"19","author":"Westrom","year":"1992","journal-title":"Sex Transm. Dis."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"425","DOI":"10.1128\/iai.51.2.425-430.1986","article-title":"Localization of gonococcal lipopolysaccharide and its relationship to toxic damage in human fallopian tube mucosa","volume":"51","author":"Cooper","year":"1986","journal-title":"Infect. Immun."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1109","DOI":"10.1099\/00221287-136-6-1109","article-title":"Chlamydia trachomatis infection of human fallopian tube organ cultures","volume":"136","author":"Cooper","year":"1990","journal-title":"J. Gen. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_5","first-page":"256","article-title":"Studies of ciliated epithelia of the human genital tract. 3: Mucociliary wave activity in organ cultures of human Fallopian tubes challenged with Neisseria gonorrhoeae and gonococcal endotoxin","volume":"55","author":"Mardh","year":"1979","journal-title":"Br. J. Vener. Dis."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1236","DOI":"10.1093\/infdis\/168.5.1236","article-title":"Association between antibody to the chlamydial heat-shock protein and tubal infertility","volume":"168","author":"Toye","year":"1993","journal-title":"J. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"795","DOI":"10.1093\/humrep\/dew026","article-title":"Abnormal vaginal microbiota may be associated with poor reproductive outcomes: A prospective study in IVF patients","volume":"31","author":"Haahr","year":"2016","journal-title":"Hum. Reprod."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"32","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fertnstert.2017.05.034","article-title":"Endometrial microbiota-new player in town","volume":"108","author":"Moreno","year":"2017","journal-title":"Fertil. Steril."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1016\/S0002-9378(94)70084-2","article-title":"Detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in fallopian tube tissue in women with postinfectious tubal infertility","volume":"171","author":"Patton","year":"1994","journal-title":"Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"68","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fertnstert.2008.09.047","article-title":"Multiple site sampling does not increase the sensitivity of Chlamydia trachomatis detection in infertility patients","volume":"93","author":"Dietrich","year":"2010","journal-title":"Fertil. Steril."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.3109\/09513590.2013.863861","article-title":"Pregnancy outcome after hysteroscopic myomectomy","volume":"30","author":"Litta","year":"2014","journal-title":"Gynecol. Endocrinol."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"344","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmig.2010.01.015","article-title":"Office vaginoscopic hysteroscopy in infertile women: Effects of gynecologist experience, instrument size, and distention medium on patient discomfort","volume":"17","author":"Pluchino","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Minim. Invasive Gynecol."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1016\/j.gmit.2014.12.004","article-title":"Tips and tricks in office hysteroscopy","volume":"4","author":"Calagna","year":"2015","journal-title":"Gynecol. Minim. Invasive Ther."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102350","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jogoh.2022.102350","article-title":"The role of hysteroscopy in reproductive surgery: Today and tomorrow","volume":"51","author":"Riemma","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Gynecol. Obstet. Hum. Reprod."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"580","DOI":"10.1016\/S0015-0282(97)80092-1","article-title":"Fallopian tissue sampling with a cytobrush during hysteroscopy: A new approach for detecting tubal infection","volume":"67","author":"Haeusler","year":"1997","journal-title":"Fertil. Steril."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vitale, S.G., Ferrari, F., Ciebiera, M., Zgliczynska, M., Rapisarda, A.M.C., Vecchio, G.M., Pino, A., Angelico, G., Knafel, A., and Riemma, G. (2021). The Role of Genital Tract Microbiome in Fertility: A Systematic Review. Int. J. Mol. Sci., 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms23010180"}],"container-title":["Diagnostics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-4418\/12\/6\/1375\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T23:23:53Z","timestamp":1760138633000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-4418\/12\/6\/1375"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,2]]},"references-count":16,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6]]}},"alternative-id":["diagnostics12061375"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/diagnostics12061375","relation":{},"ISSN":["2075-4418"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2075-4418"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,2]]}}}