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In Vitro Fertilization is the process in which infertile women, or women with husbands that are infertile, can have children. Popularly known as test tube fertilization, In Vitro Fertilization is Latin for in glass fertilization. The first test tube baby was born in 1978. How was this done? Well, Ill tell you the most scientific explanation about this amazing method of artificial insemination. Four elements are necessary for In Vitro Fertilization to take place.
First, you must have ripe eggs from the women to be fertilized. Second, You must have the mans sperm. Next, a proper environment should be found to mix the egg and the sperm to achieve fertilization. Finally, you must also have an environment to support the development of the embryo. The first step in preparing a human egg for fertilization in vitro is the collection of the pre-ovulatory eggs. Physicians must obtain these eggs during their final stages of maturation just before ovulation.
The actual retrieval of the eggs begins when the surgeon administers to the woman a general anesthetic in preparation for the recovery off the eggs. The physician then makes a small incision in the womans abdomen near the navel, inserts a laparoscope, and then guides it through the abdominal cavity to the ovary. The laparoscope is a long, thin fiberoptic tube approximately 0. 33 inches in diameter. It contains a light and an optical system that enables the surgeon to see the ovaries. The surgeon then retrieves the eggs. There is also another way of doing this.
It is called trans vaginal ultrasound-directed oocyte (egg) retrieval. In this procedure, the eggs are obtained from the ovaries by inserting a needle through the vaginal wall instead of through the abdominal wall. After collecting the egg from the women, you must get the sperm from the man, this is done by the man performing masturbation to produce semen. After that is done the collected semen is washed in a liquid substance and spun in a centrifuge to separate the sperm from the seminal fluid.
As much as the seminal fluid is to the sperm in certain ways, it contains some fertilizing-inhibiting substances. The next step brings together the reproductive cells for the process of fertilization. A skilled technician removes the eggs from the incubator that they had to be left in for 1 hour, and places one in a petri dish in a small droplet of media. They then administer a few drops of the highly concentrated sperm onto the egg. The eggs and the sperm are then placed in an incubator for 24 hours, if all goes well, fertilization will occur. If that method doesnt work, there is another way.
The sperm can be placed directly into the egg with a very fine needle by micro-injection, this will then provide a better chance for fertilization if the other method fails. Shortly after fertilization, the embryo is placed in another environment that is prepared specifically to support embryonic development. At this time the physician will insert the embryo into the womans uterus. Two days after fertilization, the fertilized egg has developed into and embryo of at least two to eight cells called the blastocyst. At this stage the physician assumes that the embryo is ready for the introduction into the uterus of the mother. The physician instructs the woman to assume a position, then the physician draws the embryo into a long catheter (a small tube).
The doctor then introduces the catheter through a larger tube previously inserted into the uterus through the vagina and then flushes the embryo into the uterus. The women slowly lowers herself into a lying position, making sure not to shift suddenly, which might lower the chance for implantation. She lies flat on her stomach for four hours before she is allowed to resume normal activity. Obviously you have to be very careful and serious when going through this procedure.
If and when the fertilization was a success the embryo will grow and develop just as if the egg was fertilized naturally. Many externally fertilized eggs fail to implant when inserted in the uterus, several variations on IVF have been developed. For example, with Gamete Intra Fallopian Transfer (GIFT), unfertilized eggs and sperm are mixed and inserted into the oviduct (fallopian tube). This procedure by passes a mechanical blockage in the upper oviduct while permitting fertilization and implantation to proceed naturally. The In Vitro Fertilization technique has become so popular that there are more than 100 clinics in the United States and, according to a new estimate, a new IVF baby is born every day somewhere in the world. It may seem that In Vitro Fertilization is a very successful way of reproduction, but as a matter of fact it is not.
Only twenty percent of IVF fertilization's result in a birth of a child. Some couples spend thousands of dollars on IVF only to be disappointed. Until doctors and physicians research and find something more effective and successful, women will have to wait for their chance to have a child, but with a little hope and a little help from In Vitro Fertilization, it may raise infertile womens chances of having a baby.
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Research essay sample on Vitro Fertilization Test Tube
