02 Reproduction in Lower and Higher Animals - part 17

Infertility :

Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive naturally after (one year of) regular unprotected intercourse.
The causes of infertility could be physical, congenital, diseases, immunological or even psychological.
The common physical causes in females are -

The couple could be assisted to have child / children through certain special techniques commonly known as Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART).

IVF (In Vitro Fertization) :

It is a process of fertization where an egg is combined with sperm outside the body in a test tube or glass plate to form a zygote under simulated conditions in the laboratory.
The zygote or early embryos (with up to 8 blastomeres) could be then transferred into the fallopian tube for further development.

ZIFT (Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer) :

ZIFT is an infertility treatment used when there is a blockage in the fallopian tubes which prevents the fertilization of egg by the sperm.
In this method, egg is removed from woman's ovary.
Fertilization of the egg with sperms is brought about outside the body under sterile conditions to form zygote by the process called in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The zygote is then transferred to fallopian tube for further development.

GIFT (Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer) :

Transfer of an ovum collected from a donor into the fallopian tube of another female who can provide suitable environment for its fertilization and development. This technique called gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT)
GIFT has been developed for the cases in which only the entrance to the oviducts or the upper segment of the oviducts in blocked.
In this procedure ova and sperms are directly injected into regions of the oviduct, where fertilization produces a blastocyst, which enters the uterus via the normal route.
GIFT has a success rate of about 30 percent.

ICSI (Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection) :

ICSI is an in vitro fertilization procedure in which a single sperm cell is injected directly into cytoplasm of an ovum in the laboratory.
Here the sperm has to naturally penetrate the egg.

Artificial Insemination (AI) :

In some infertility cases, the male partner is unable to inseminate the female due to a very low sperm count.
This problem can be solved by artificial insemination.
In this technique, the sperms are collected from the male and artificially introduced into the cervix of female, for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization (inside the body).

IUI (Intra Uterine Insemination) :

In this technique the process is somewhat like that of artificial insemination, the only difference is that the sperms are introduced into the uterine cavity instead of cervix.

Sperm bank / Semen bank:

A sperm bank or semen bank is a place which collects, stores and provides human sperms / semen.
The semen is provided by healthy males called sperm donors.
The sperms are stored in sperm bank by cryo preservation method (at low temperature).

Surrogate mother :

Some women have problem in implantation of embryo in uterus.
Such woman can take help of the modern remedial technique called surrogacy.
In this, embryo is implanted in surrogate mother, who is not the biological mother.

Adoption :

Adoption is a legal process by which a couple or a single parent gets legal rights, privileges and responsibilities that are associated to a biological child for the upbringing of the adopted child.
An adoptive parent should be medically fit and financially able to take care of the adopted child.
A person wishing to adopt a child must be at least 21 years old but there is no legal upper age limit for adoption.

Always Remember :

Tobacco, marijuana and other drugs smoking may cause infertility in both men and women.
Nicotine blocks the production of sperm and decreases the size of testicles.
Alcoholism by men interferes with the synthesis of testosterone and has an impact on sperm count.
Use of cocaine or marijuana may temporarily reduce the number and quality of sperm.

Always Remember :

Yogy's biology