Murugan Nandagopal: Lactobacillus Role in Fertility
Murugan Nandagopal, Senior Scientific Officer at LifeCell International Pvt.Ltd, shared a post on LinkedIn about a paper published in Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Journal:
“Just Published | Clinical Microbiology and Reproductive Medicine
Endometrial Molecular Microbiome Profiling: Empowering Reproductive Outcomes through Enhanced Pathogen and Lactobacillus Diagnostics
Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Journal | Oct–Dec 2025
After years of seeing unexplained infertility, recurrent implantation failure, and recurrent pregnancy loss, this study answers a critical question clinicians often ask:
Are we missing infections by relying only on culture?
What we did
- 385 endometrial biopsy samples from Indian women with AUB, RIF, RPL, IVF failure
- Compared conventional culture vs RT-PCR (EMPOWER panel)
- Targeted 23 reproductive pathogens + 5 key Lactobacillus species
Key findings that matter clinically
- 59.7% positivity by RT-PCR vs 37% by culture
- A clear diagnostic gap with routine methods
Most prevalent pathogens:
Ureaplasma parvum – 13.5%
Enterococcus faecalis – 11.7%
Mycoplasma genitalium – 10.4%
- Polymicrobial infections detected (missed by culture)
- No MTB or Neisseria gonorrhoeae in this cohort
- Chronic endometritis increased with age → 100% >45 years
The Lactobacillus insight (often ignored!)
High Lactobacillus abundance (>10⁵ CFU/ml) strongly associated with pathogen-negative endometrium
Confirms the protective role of Lactobacillus in reproductive success
Why this matters
- CE is subtle, silent, and underdiagnosed
- Culture alone is not enough
- Molecular diagnostics must move from ‘optional’ to ‘routine’ in infertility workups
From empirical antibiotics → precision diagnosis → better reproductive outcomes
One of the largest Indian datasets integrating pathogen detection pluse Lactobacillus profiling in endometrial health.
Grateful to my co-authors, clinicians, and laboratory teams who believe that accurate diagnosis is the first step toward successful fertility treatment.
I must thank Dr Satish Patki sir for his constant Technical support and guidance throughout this study!
We are in the verge of groundbreaking data on Lactobacillus role in fertility to be published soon!
Happy to discuss, collaborate, and share insights with Gynecologists | IVF specialists | Reproductive immunologists | Microbiologists
I am grateful to our team Mukin Kumar, Deepa Murugesan, Alok Dadhich, Gayathri, Sourav Jain, Deepak Dixit, Pooja Trivedi, Kanchan Saini.”
Title: Endometrial Molecular Microbiome Profiling: Empowering Reproductive Outcomes through Enhanced Pathogen and Lactobacillus Diagnostics
Authors: Murugan Nandagopal, Mukinkumar Sonai, Deepa Murugesan, Gayathri Venkateswaran, Sujith Sivan Jayachandran
Read the full article.
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