VPB 321: Animal Biotechnology (2+1)

IN VITRO FERTILISATION (IVF) 

• Embryo transfer is not used widely because of its cost, technical difficulty and the limited supply of embryos available from super ovulated donors. These limitations would be removed if we could fertilize in vitro, the thousands of oocytes that are present in a female's ovaries.
• Breeding programmes would select for female genetics as easily as for male genetics. The genetic influence of a male would be increased further since the amount of semen required for fertilization in vitro is fraction of the amount needed for Artificial insemination.
• Fertilization consists essentially the fusion of two cells, the oocytes from the female and spermatozoon from the male to form single cell, the Zygote.
• IVF is generally quite successful, resulting in about 70-80% of fertilized eggs. The practical difficulties arise in sourcing eggs for fertilization and in the development of fertilized zygotes to term.
• IVF involves three steps namely
• Oocyte recovery
• Oocyte maturation in vitro
• In vitro fertilization of matured oocytes