Question

Modern techniques like surrogate mother, sperm bank and IVF technique will help the human beings. Justify this statement.

Answer 1

Infertility

1. It is defined as not being able to get pregnant (conceive) after one year (or longer) of unprotected sex.
2. Many couples all over the world are unable to produce children because of various reasons like congenital diseases, drugs, and immunological and psychological factors.
3. Such couples can be assisted to have children through techniques called assisted reproductive technologies (ART).
4. IVF involves an egg and a sperm that are fertilized outside a woman’s body in a laboratory. It is a process that is used to overcome infertility and support surrogacy

IVF is one such ART and includes the following techniques:

1. ZIFT: It stands for zygote intrafallopian transfer. In ZIFT, the sperm from a donor male and the ova from a donor female are fused in the laboratory. The zygote so formed is transferred into the fallopian tube at the 8 blastomeres stage.

1. IUT: It stands for intra uterine transfer. In this technique, embryos with more than 8 blastomeres are transferred into the uterus.
2. GIFT − It stands for gamete intrafallopian transfer. In GIFT, females who cannot produce ovum, but can provide suitable conditions for the fertilization of the ovum, are provided with ovum from a donor.
3. ICSI: It stands for intra cytoplasmic sperm injection. In this method, sperm is directly injected into the cytoplasm of the ovum.
4. Artificial insemination − In this technique, the semen collected from the husband or a donor is injected into the vagina or uterus. This cures the infertility arising from the inability of the male partner to ejaculate, or due to low sperm count.
5. Surrogacy - Surrogacy is another method that is used for women who face problems in the implantation of embryos in the uterus. In this technique, the donor of the oocyte is the woman itself who has a problem implanting the embryo in the uterus. The collected oocyte is fertilized with the sperm of her husband in a test tube. The embryo which is obtained after fertilization is implanted in the uterus of another female who is called the surrogate mother.
6. Sperm bank - It is a new concept that is similar to blood banks. Sperms are collected from male donors after a thorough medical checkup and stored for future use. These sperm are used to fertilize the ovum of the woman and then this fertilized ovum is implanted in the uterus of the same woman.