Artificial Insemination by Jamieson Taylor O'hara A look into Artificial Insemination and what it is capable of

What IS Artificial Insemination? ➲ Artificial Insemination is a process where semen is extracted from a male subject, and is artificially injected into either the female's cervix (intracervical insemination), or the uterus (intrauterine insemination). During this process, extreme medical attention is required, as the female menstrual cycle is closely monitored with ultrasounds, blood tests and ovarian kits. Meanwhile, the male's semen is 'washed' to ensure that no harmful chemicals or sexually transmitted diseases are in it, for it can harm the egg or the female reticipant, or both, if unlucky. The operation is risky, but, if successfull, the female will conceive. ➲ However, there is a chance that the operation fails. According to 'DocShop.com', the success rate of the operation depend on 2 factors: Fertility Problems and age. The normal chances of success are on a 5-25% raito, but they can be increased with a special kind of drug called 'Fertility Drugs', but even with those drugs consumed, success is not garunteed,

The Two Procedures There are two procedures and approaches to preforming Artificial Insemination, which, if you have read carefully on the last slide, involve two different entry points for the sperm entering the female. ➲ If the sperm is being injected through the female's cervix, which is the common procedure, it is called intracervical insemination, or ICI. This is the most painless, and the quickest procedure, and it produces the highest success rate, as the sperm is able to make it's course after a quick injection. ➲ Intrauterine Insemination is when the sperm is injected directly into the uterus. It is the simplest way of injecting sperm, but is slower, and more painful, and it has a lower success rate, unfortunately, as the sperm may end up going to the cervix, confused, leaving the egg to die, unfertilized.

Donor Sperm ➲ Married women can choose either to have sperm taken from their husbands, or from another man. This option is preferable if taking sperm from the husband is not a good option, because of his infertility. A single woman can also use donor sperm to get a baby without a husband, or marriage. A donor sperm process is known as AID (Artificial Insemination by Donor). This process may also be a good idea if Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) is not affordable, or if the husband is the carrier of a disease that could threaten the life of the female or the egg, and thus, the baby.

Benefits ➲ Artificial Insemination has some good benefits, like, for example, the reduced chances of passing on a sexually transmitted disease, and is even possible if same-sex (gay) couples want a baby (As seen on an American Dad episode, where a gay couple make a baby by using the main character's wife to deliver.)

Cost of Artificial Insemination ➲ Although Artificial Insemination is useful, it can be expensive. The cost of this procedure includes the following...

➲ The cost of investigation and diagnosis ➲ The cost of drug therapy ➲ The cost of the AI procedure (the intracervical insemination procedure is typically less expensive than the intrauterine artificial insemination procedure) ➲ The cost of the hospital stay. The whole process costs a lot, but with financing, it can be more affordable for those who can't afford it.

Possibility of gene modification? ➲ Since the sperm of a male is extracted and 'washed' for any diseases, it may be possible to alter the sperm so that the offspring looks like a different person. This is not confirmed, but it could be possible, since sperm contains the male genes, and the rest of the genes are found in the female.

Pictures of Artificial Insemination ➲ Picture of semen getting injected into a woman's uterus by Intrauterine Insemination

➲ Sperm is injected through a tube, and travels through the egg. It is again, being injected into the Uterus.

➲ Woman getting ready for Artificial Insemination. Doctor may be holding a Karyotype, or a scan of the egg, explaining to the woman about the chromosomes, the status of the egg, or maybe reassuring her about the low chance of anything going wrong during the process.

How does this link to what we are learning? ➲ As we all know, genetics are passed down and carried by the sperm, which, during fertilization, inject the recessive genes, which mix with the female's genes, and are put into the egg so that the developing baby knows it's genetics, and has enough instructions to produce it's own. When Artificial Insemination occurs, we are manually inserting the genes.

How this all applies to the real world. ➲ Artificial Insemination may only be a small bit of unlocking the secret to genes. We could possibly do more with these procedures, like make human-animal hybrids so that these people would have traits that could prove useful in their life, or they can use this process to learn more about genetics. Mayan analyze sperm and embryos to learn even more about genetics we previously did not know. Whatever this can do for science, it could prove useful for future generations, and it could be useful for cloning people by maybe replicating the sperm and the embryos, and then placing them in conditions where they can survive for a long time, then use them to clone the exact same person, but maybe with a different genetic makeup, or personality.