Post on 06-Jan-2016
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Assisted Reproductive Technologies
OverviewInfertility: inability of a couple to have a baby
Caused by low sperm, lack of hormones, disease, some medical treatment (ex. chemo)
Assisted reproduction technologies: most involve removing woman’s eggs, fertilizing them, then returning embryos to uterus
Uterus: female organ where an embryo (which becomes a fetus) develops and is nourished
Artificial Insemination (AI)Collects sperm from a male and injects it
into a female used for over 200
years, especially on farms (ex. dairy cattle)
Donor sperm may be used if the male’s isn’t healthy
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)Used to treat specific fertility problems Means ‘in glass’ egg is fertilized in a petri
dish Common issue: something is blocking the
sperm and egg from meeting IVF takes eggs from woman and sperm
from man and combines them Placed back in uterus after 2-4 days Goal is to have one of the fertilized
embryos implanted
Woman will receive powerful hormone treatment to increase # of eggs she produces
Success rate: 1 out of 3 couples Age of woman is a factor
Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT)Egg cells removed from ovaries and
combined with sperm cells, creating a mixture
Mixture placed in fallopian tubes so fertilization takes place in body
Differs from IVF because embryo is NOT produced outside of body
Intracytoplasmic Sperm InjectionA specialized procedure - single sperm
cell is injected into egg cell Zygote inserted into the woman’s uterus Used when the male has
severe fertility problems or when in vitro has been unsuccessful
About 25% result in births
Impact of Reproductive Technologies on Society
Reproductive technologies help couples that would otherwise be infertile have children.
However, there are concerns and questions being raised over these practices...
Some evidence that conception by IVF may cause a slightly higher number of birth defects
What to do with embryos that are left over in IVF processExtra embryos can be frozen then used for
stem cell and gene therapy research
Is it fair to keep identity of father a secret if it was an anonymous sperm donor?
Surrogacy – giving birth to a child that someone else will raise What if people change their minds?