Author Description

This book explains how biological factors can influence the development of human gametes and early embryos, and how clinicians and researchers can use this information to select methods of medically assisted conception best suited to infertile patients. Because laboratory methods and clinical protocols, such as the quality of water and purity of reagents used in culture medium, are essential to the success of these procedures, there is a tendency to give the less weight to biological factors in explaining the success or failure in achieving pregnancy. In redressing the balance, this volume shows how molecular, cellular, genetic, endocrinological, and immunological factors contribute to the development potential of human gametes and early embryos. The chapters are written by authors who are clinicians in medically assisted conception and researchers in the etiology of early reproductive failure. Many of the contributors offer advice on how programs could benefit from adopting analytical methods that would determine fertility/developmental problems at the gamete level. The ability to recognize how these intrinsic factors can affect the early stages of human development provides a more insightful basis for interpreting pregnancy outcome, and a more complete understanding of the factors that can and cannot be controlled. Reproductive biologists and clinicians involved in medically assisted conception should find the book highly useful.