New News Biology #44

IVF Explained

Contraceptives = Prevent Pregnancy

There is also an opposite problem, some people are naturally infertile, but want to have a baby, so the goal is to increase fertility here, by using hormones.

FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormones) stimulates an egg to mature in the ovaries. However, some people have naturally low levels of FSH, so the eggs won’t mature properly.

The solution is to get some of the needed hormone into the body, in the form of a pill, which will help the egg mature. Then some LH (luteinising hormone) is put in as well, which will stimulate ovulation. Normally, this is enough to restore fertility and help a woman have pregnancy.

But in the case that it doesn’t, IVF comes into play. IVF stands for ‘in vitro fertilization’, with ‘in vitro’ meaning outside the body, for example in a test tube inside a laboratory. In vivo is the opposite of in vitro, taking place inside the body.

Stage 1. FSH is given so that it stimulates the eggs to mature.

Stage 2. Matured eggs are collected from the ovaries.

Stage 3. Fertilized with sperm of the father. If the father has a low sperm count, intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is conducted, in which the sperm is injected into the egg cell with a super tiny needle.

Stage 4. The incubator is where the now fertilized egg cells are placed, and wait for them to grow into embryos.

Stage 5. Embryo(s) are taken out and inserted back into the mother’s uterus, and it should develop into a foetus.

Pros of IVF:

-help infertile couples have kids

-pretty great

Cons of IVF:

-doesn’t always work (in the UK, only 1 in 4 succeed)

-emotionally upsetting, stressful

-physically unpleasant (abdominal pain and vomiting often occur)

-because multiple embryos are put inside the uterus in hopes of one of them growing into a foetus, it often leads to multiple births (twins/triplets), and raises the risk of complications like miscarriage and still-birth

Some people are against IVF because it usually means unused embryos, which are eventually destroyed. These embryos had the potential for human life. So some think it is unethical.

Recent advances in microscope technology have increased the success rate and we can also remove single cells from an embryo to test for diseases and look at the traits of the future baby.

However, some think it may lead to the development of designer babies, in which we pick the ones that we like most. But it isn’t happening right now, because it is currently illegal in the UK and pretty much all other countries.