Abstract

MATA-MIRANDA, Mónica Maribel  and  VAZQUEZ-ZAPIEN, Gustavo Jesús. In vitro fertilization: Louise Brown, four decades after her birth. Rev. sanid. mil. [online]. 2018, vol.72, n.5-6, pp.363-365.  Epub Aug 23, 2019. ISSN 0301-696X.

Forty years ago, Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards, and Jean Purdy achieved the first human birth through in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF is one of the transformative technologies of the 20th century, designed to help human conception, and involves four aspects: 1. Acquisition of a sufficient number of mitotic and cytoplasmically mature oocyte. 2. In vitro fertlization of these mature oocytes; 3. Embryo culture before implantation; 4. Embryo transfer within the maternal womb. The story of the collaboration of Steptoe and Edwards was full of disappointment and failure, reaching a successful conclusion with the birth of a girl named Louise Brown, after 102 failed embryo transfers. Due to this success, Robert Edwards, in 2010, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the development of IVF plus embryo transfer (IVF / ET). His work resulted in the birth of the first «test tube baby» in July 1978. Now, more than four million babies have born using IVF / ET, and a medical speciallity called Biology of Reproduction has been created, which is responsible of the assisted fertilization.

Keywords : In vitro fertilization; embryo transfer; assisted fertilization; Louise Brown.

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