Detected Abnormalities Early in Pregnancy
Human embryos possess genetic defects in the early days of development, which according to experts explain why many pregnancies fail shortly after conception.
Researchers at the University of London, led by Dr Dagan Wells, studied 46 chromosomes in embryos 3 days of development and consider that a new test can improve success rates in infertile patients by allowing doctors to choose embryos with sets of normal chromosomes for implantation in the womb.
The technology could also decrease the number of multiple pregnancies in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization because fewer embryos would be implanted in the uterus for a successful birth. The results indicate that uniform cell development did not occur frequently in the first days after conception.
Wells noted that, by contrast, the cells divided unequally chromosomes together in destructive drives, or did not divide at all. Most human cells have 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. Wells and colleague Joy Delhanty studied twelve embryos with three days of development. Only one of the three had complete sets of chromosomes.
While the study reveals that many embryos are not viable, the results should not be inferred that all embryos are defective, as previous researchers have speculated, using less sophisticated tests.
“There are cases where early tests have shown chromosomal abnormality in an embryo, but when the baby is born, has no abnormality,” said Wells. “So the theories suggest that it is possible that embryos are composed by themselves in some cases”