Biology Reproductive Miracles

STS Connections-Reproductive Technology

The driving force in today's world is technology; it has opened the doors of opportunity and allows us to do many things that were once conceived imaginable. In-vitro fertilization, fertility drugs, artificial insemination, contraception and surrogacy are just some of the major technological and medical breakthroughs that occurred in today's world. With the power of technology comes the great responsibility of monitoring it. Where do we draw the line between morally right and wrong? How long is it going to be till we are all expected to live till 100 years old? Technology has revolutionized human production. It allows us the option of making our children in Petrie dishes or your own child could be born from your mother's womb. Whether we like it or not the world is becoming technological advanced, the procedures for the advancement of human production is being revolutionized as we speak. As for infertility well no one wants to be told no, no you can't have children so everyday people like me and you resort to such drastic measures. You decided is it hindering mankind or is technology benefiting the world.

In-vitro fertilization, the technique in which egg cells are fertilized by sperm outside the woman's womb. When a woman can't result to a normal conception they can turn to in-vitro fertilization. The process of in-vitro fertilization is a long process that proceeds to be very costly. The procedure starts off with Treatment cycles; a treatment cycle is a short period of time (on average 10 days) where gonadatropins (follicle stimulating hormones) are injected daily into the woman. These treatment cycles tend to start on the 3rd day of her menstruation. Although the woman must be monitored very closely to make sure that the gonadatropin injected is properly stimulating the follicles in the ovaries and allowing for growth and maturation to occur, this is called ovarian stimulation. After the follicles in the ovaries have matured Human Chronic Gonadatropin Is administered, HGC acts similar to a lutenizing hormone, which allows for ovulation to occur inside the ovaries 36 hours after the injection. However before HCG is administered to the patient the eggs are removed from the ovaries, using a transvaginal technique. This involves an ultrasound-guided needle piercing the vaginal wall. The needle withdraws several follicles and the follicular fluid is then sent to the IVF laboratory. When the follicular fluid is sent to the labatory the eggs are stripped and isolated from their surrounding cells in order to prepare for fertilization. Semen is also prepared by removing seminal fluid and the inactive cells. Both the sperm and egg are incubated together in the culture media for 18 hours, in order to achieve fertilization and produce a cell with two pronuclei, the fertilized egg is then left alone for 48 hours to achieve proper maturation and make sure the eggs has reached 6-8 cell stage. After the embryos have reached cell stage 6-8 they are graded upon number of cells evenness of growth and maturation. The embryologist then decided's which of the embryos will be implanted into the uterus. The embryo's that are most apt to survive are transferred through a catheter which goes into up into the vagina and cervix. After the procedure is done the patient comes back 2 weeks after to test for pregnancy results.

Infertility can be treated with a number of various procedures; it is something that the human race doesn't have to live with anymore. As a result many women can to turn to the use of fertility drugs. The use of fertility drugs are viable to work because they cause the release of a mature egg each month. Fertility drugs are administered in order to allow for the mature growth of the follicle and to allow for the egg to ovulate. Through ovulation a mature egg is going to be released into the uterus. Then during the time of conception, when the male ejaculates inside the woman the sperm will try and fertilize the egg. Though during the first conception the egg may not be fertilized and it may require more drugs to be administered and to try again. The fertility drugs can be composed of various agents, which in turn stimulate follicular growth and development inside of the ovaries. There are different groups of drugs that can be given for example 1. Gonadatropin releasing hormone (GnRH), 2. Estrogen Antagonists (Clomiphene Citrate) and 3. Gonadatropin's (FSH, Pergonal, and recombinant HCG).

Artificial insemination is when the sperm is put into the uterus through artificial means instead of the normal conception. The procedure of artificial insemination is very tough because due to the donor's sperm being used they have sometimes argued right over a child of theirs that has been born. In order to achieve fertilization the women's menstrual cycle must be observed very closely, by using ovulation kits, various ultrasounds and blood tests. The woman is usually given some type of fertility drug in order to allow for ovulation to occur and several mature eggs to be released, in order for a better chance of fertilization. When the ovum is released into the uterus, the donor's sperm enters into her body through the means of using a catheter. Prior to the sperm being used however it must be washed to ensure fertilization and remove the chemicals in order to minimize any discomfort or chance of getting a bacterial infection. The washed sperm are then separated with a chemical, which allows the most active sperm to be isolated and in turn inserted into the woman's body. In turn if the proper fertilization takes place and the procedure is successful the woman will bear to term a baby as any other pregnant mother.

Contraception is the means of using actions, devices, procedures and medications in order to reduce and minimize the chance of the woman becoming pregnant. A lot of the society doesn't want to deal with the reasonability of having a child running around. So in order to reduce the chance of pregnancy many people turn to the many different types of "birth control". The most common and popular used method is the use of the male condom. The male condom is a latex covering that is placed over the penis. It provides a cervical barrier in order to be able to ejaculate and not have the sperm from the ejaculate fertilize the egg because the sperm stays within the condom. Other means of popular contraception is the combination of synthetic progesterone and estrogen. Otherwise known as the pill, the patch or the monthly injection. By using synthetic progesterone