Reproduction and ethics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind Hursthouse
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Insemination ◽  
Moral Status ◽  
Human Embryos ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Embryo Donation ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Conservative View

The first reproductive issue debated extensively by philosophers was abortion. Debates about its morality were, and still are, dominated by the issue of the moral status of the foetus, on which a wide variety of views has been defended. The most ‘conservative’ view is usually associated with very restrictive abortion policies, inconsistent with ‘a woman’s right to choose’ (though the connection has been challenged by Judith Jarvis Thomson). However, all but the most conservative find it hard to ground prevailing moral intuitions concerning the newer issue of using human embryos for research purposes. Embryos, and even gametes, also assume importance in the context of methods for overcoming infertility (artificial insemination by donor (AID), egg and embryo donation involving in vitro fertilization (IVF), surrogacy) where issues about rights and ownership may arise. Considerations of ‘the welfare of the child’, often used to settle surrogacy disputes, also bear on questions of what should, or may, be done to avoid bringing a child with a genetic abnormality into the world. Current philosophical literature on reproductive issues is largely limited to a vocabulary of rights and little attention is paid to the social and familial contexts in which reproductive decisions are usually made

scholarly journals Patients' Attitudes towards the Surplus Frozen Embryos in China

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuan Jin ◽  
GongXian Wang ◽  
SiSun Liu ◽  
Ming Liu ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Moral Status ◽  
Embryo Donation ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Narrative Style ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Biological Children ◽  
Frozen Embryos ◽  
Reproductive Techniques ◽  
Embryo Disposition

Background. Assisted reproductive techniques have been used in China for more than 20 years. This study investigates the attitudes of surplus embryo holders towards embryos storage and donation for medical research.Methods. A total of 363 couples who had completed in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment and had already had biological children but who still had frozen embryos in storage were invited to participate. Interviews were conducted by clinics in a narrative style.Results. Family size was the major reason for participants’ (dis)continuation of embryo storage; moreover, the moral status of embryos was an important factor for couples choosing embryo storage, while the storage fee was an important factor for couples choosing embryo disposal. Most couples discontinued the storage of their embryos once their children were older than 3 years. In our study, 58.8% of the couples preferred to dispose of surplus embryos rather than donate them to research, citing a lack of information and distrust in science as significant reasons for their decision.Conclusions. Interviews regarding frozen embryos, including patients’ expectations for embryo storage and information to assist them with decisions regarding embryo disposal, are beneficial for policies addressing embryo disposition and embryo donation in China.

Progress and Challenges in Laboratory-Based Diagnostic and Screening Approaches for Aneuploidy Detection during Pregnancy

2021 ◽  
pp. 247263032110217
Author(s):  
Lindsay Schneider ◽  
Anubhav Tripathi
Keyword(s):  
Sample Collection ◽  
Aneuploidy Screening ◽  
Preimplantation Genetic Testing ◽  
Cellular Division ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Genetic Abnormalities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Diagnostic Technologies ◽  
Screening Approaches

Aneuploidy is caused by problems during cellular division and segregation errors during meiosis that lead to an abnormal number of chromosomes and initiate significant genetic abnormalities during pregnancy or the loss of a fetus due to miscarriage. Screening and diagnostic technologies have been developed to detect this genetic condition and provide parents with critical information about their unborn child. In this review, we highlight the complexities of aneuploidy as a disease as well as multiple technological advancements in testing that help to identify aneuploidy at various time points throughout pregnancy. We focus on aneuploidy diagnosis during preimplantation genetic testing that is performed during in vitro fertilization as well as prenatal screening and diagnosis during pregnancy. This review focuses on DNA-based analysis and laboratory techniques for aneuploidy detection through reviewing molecular- and engineering-based technical advancements. We also present key challenges in aneuploidy detection during pregnancy, including sample collection, mosaic embryos, economic factors, and the social implications of this testing. The goal of this review is to synthesize broad information about aneuploidy screening and diagnostic sample collection and analysis during pregnancy and discuss major challenges the field is still facing despite decades of advancements.

scholarly journals Artificial insemination and in-vitro fertilization using donor spermatozoa: a report on 15 years of experience

1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 722-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. N. Clarke ◽  
H. Bourne ◽  
P. Hill ◽  
W. I. Johnston ◽  
A. Speirs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
In Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Artificial Insemination ◽  
Years Of Experience ◽  
Vitro Fertilization

scholarly journals 106 GENOMIC IMPRINTING OF IGF2R IN TISSUES OF BOVINE FETUSES GENERATED BY ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION OR IN VITRO FERTILIZATION

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 204 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Hiendleder ◽  
D. Bebbere ◽  
S. Bauersachs ◽  
M. Stojkovic ◽  
H. Wenigerkind ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
In Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Artificial Insemination ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Allelic Expression ◽  
Paternal Allele ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Bovine Fetuses ◽  
Parent Of Origin

The insulin-like growth factor 2 receptor gene (IGF2R) is involved in fetal growth regulation. A study in sheep associated fetal overgrowth after in vitro embryo culture with abnormal DNA methylation and expression of IGF2R (Young et al. 2001 Nat. Genet. 27, 153–154). This suggested that abnormal IGF2R imprinting is a major cause of fetal overgrowth. To test this hypothesis in bovine fetuses, we developed a microsatellite marker for IGF2R from cDNA sequence data and screened 45 Day-80 fetuses generated in vivo, by artificial insemination (AI), or in vitro, by in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures, for parent-of-origin-specific gene expression. A total of 17 fetuses were heterozygous, but available parental DNA samples showed that only 12 (8 AI, 4 IVF) allowed unambiguous discrimination of parental alleles. Parent-of-origin-specific allelic expression patterns indicated that bovine IGF2R was expressed predominantly from the maternal allele and thus imprinted in fetal heart, kidney, liver, lung, muscle, and cotyledon tissue. However, the relative amount of expression from the paternal allele was tissue-specific and ranged from 6.4 ± 0.8% in skeletal muscle up to 27.4 ± 0.9% in cotyledon (SPSS or 11.5, ANOVA, P < 0.001). Tissues that originated from the same germ layer showed similar allelic expression ratios whereas significantly different expression ratios (P < 0.05) were observed between tissues originating from different germ layers. Contrary to expectations from sheep data, there was no evidence for gross abnormalities in IGF2R imprinting in tissues from overgrown (n = 2) or normal sized (n = 2) IVF fetuses. However, relative paternal expression levels in several tissues showed significant relationships (P < 0.05–0.001) with growth parameters and pointed to subtle changes in paternal IGF2R expression in overgrown IVF fetuses. We thank W. Scholz and M. Weppert for excellent technical assistance.

scholarly journals Protocol for controlled modeling of human epiblast and amnion development using stem cells

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Zheng ◽  
Jianping Fu
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Primordial Germ Cells ◽  
Primitive Streak ◽  
Human Embryos ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Human Embryology ◽  
Post Implantation ◽  
Advance Knowledge ◽  
Early Human

Abstract Due to the inaccessibility of post-implantation human embryos and the restriction on in-vitro fertilization (IVF) embryos cultured beyond 14 days, the knowledge of early post-implantation human embryogenesis remains extremely limited. Recently, we have developed a microfluidic in-vitro platform, based on human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), which is capable of recapitulating several key developmental landmarks of early human post-implantation embryonic development, including lumenogenesis of the epiblast (EPI), amniogenesis, and specification of primordial germ cells (PGCs) and of primitive streak (PS) cells. Given its controllability and reproducibility, the microfluidic platform provides a powerful experimental platform to advance knowledge of human embryology and reproduction. This protocol describes the preparation of the microfluidic device and its implementation for modeling human post-implantation epiblast and amnion development using hPSCs.

scholarly journals Robust Metabolomics Approach For The Evaluation Of Human Embryos From In-Vitro Fertilization.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia Figoli ◽  
Marcelo Garcea ◽  
Claudio Bisioli ◽  
Valeria Tafintseva ◽  
Volha Shapaval ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multivariate Analysis ◽  
In Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Selection Criterion ◽  
Human Embryos ◽  
Spectral Features ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Culture Supernatants

Abstract The identification of the most competent embryos for transfer to the uterus constitutes the main challenge of in-vitro fertilization (IVF). We established a metabolomic-based approach applying Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) on 130 samples of 3-days embryo culture supernatants from 26 embryos that implanted and 104 that failed. Examining the internal structure of the data by unsupervised multivariate analysis, it was observed that the supernatants of nonimplanted embryos contained highly heterogeneous spectral features. These features were overlapping with metabolic-implantation fingerprints, thus demonstrating that in establishing embryo-assessment models a one-class modelling involving only the samples with positive-implantation outcomes should be applied. Analysis of variance confirmed that the women´s age (>40 years) undermined the implantation of the embryos exhibiting implantation metabolomics, and also that constituted a condition triggering embryos to express nonimplantation metabolomics. We conclude that IVF-success rates can be significantly improved if FTIR spectroscopy is used as an embryo-selection criterion.

scholarly journals Polygenic Risk Scoring of Human Embryos: a Qualitative Study of Media Coverage

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiny Pagnaer ◽  
Maria Siermann ◽  
Pascal Borry ◽  
Olga Tšuiko
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Human Embryos ◽  
Preimplantation Genetic Testing ◽  
Vitro Fertilization ◽  
Polygenic Risk ◽  
Risk Scoring

Abstract Background Current preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) technologies enable embryo genotyping across the whole genome. Consequently, this has led to the development of polygenic risk scoring of human embryos (PGT-P). Recent implementation of PGT-P, including screening for intelligence, has been extensively covered by the media, raising major controversy. Considering the increasing demand for assisted reproduction, we evaluated how information about PGT-P is communicated in press media and explored the diversity of ethical themes present in the public debate.Methods LexisNexis Academic database and Google News were searched to identify articles about polygenic embryo screening. This led to 535 news articles. 59 original articles met the inclusion criteria. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse these articles.Results 8.8% of articles gave embryo polygenic scoring a positive portrayal, while 36.8% expressed a negative attitude. 54.4% were neutral, mostly highlighting limited practical value of the technology in in vitro fertilization (IVF) settings. We identified five main ethical themes that are also present in academic literature and the broader debate on reproductive technologies: a slippery slope towards designer babies, well-being of the child and parents, impact on society, deliberate choice and societal readiness.Conclusions Implementation of embryo polygenic profiling engenders a need for specific recommendations. Current media analysis discloses important ethical themes to consider when creating future guidelines for PGT-P.

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