The Brave New World of Three-Parent I.V.F.

Maureen Ott is from Livingston New Jersey and was 39 years old and all she wanted was to have a child after seven years of trying.  Through vitro fertilization Maureen Ott’s dream finally came true.  Vitro fertilization is when human life is created in a laboratory environment in a petri dish by using the egg from the mother and the sperm from the father.  The doctors during the experiment will take the eggs from the mother and with a needle will inject the husband’s sperm, but in Maureen Ott’s situation a small amount of cytoplasm from a different woman’s egg.  With the cytoplasm from a different egg the child could have DNA from three different parents.  Maureen Ott was the first woman on record to have this type of procedure done successfully.  This was a massive breakthrough for the world of technology and genetics for the fact that it could help promote proper fertilization for couples how cannot naturally reproduce.  While this gave great joy to the Ott’s family, it began a political debate on whether it is something that the human race should experiment on. 

A microscopic image that shows a genome being removed from a donor egg. 1. Manipulation pipette. 2. Donor egg. 3. Holding pipette. 4. Zona pellucida (encircling the egg). 5. Location of the oocyte genome (or nuclear DNA) before removal.

                The DNA that could be acquired from the third party egg comes from the mitochondria from the cytoplasm.  Mitochondrion is an organelle found in most eukaryotic cells, and is known as the “power house of the cells” which reproduces ATP (the chemical energy of the cells) and contains mtDNA.  The mtDNA governs the basic cellular functions and was discovered in the 1960’s. The exchange of nuclear genetic material between oocytes and embryos offers a novel reproductive option for the prevention of inherited mitochondrial diseases.  There are actually 37 genes in the mitochondria.  One of the draw backs which are discussed is the fact that germ cells can also be passed along; this is called germ line.  There are many devastating diseases that can by brought on by the mutations in mtDNA, and many people think that having three sets of mtDNA could cause an increase in the mutations.  When the media dubbed the children “three-parent babies”, this began to raise concerns that would cause the FDA to get involved.  A new technique of transferring mitochondria was created, mitochondrial-replacement therapy.  Mitochondrial-replacement therapy is when the transfer DNA of one egg with the mitochondria of a different egg; this would hope to prevent a variety of devastating disease that can be caused through the mutations in the mtDNA.  If the FDA gave the go ahead for this procedure it would be the first time that a body of the government would approve a procedure that combines the genetic material of three people; which could push the way life is now to a new progressive future.  Some of the fears that people have with this experimental procedure is the fact that people would be allowed to design babies to their own specifications, (think of the movie Gattica).  One of the bigger drawbacks with this procedure is the different mitochondrial diseases that could be increased such as; kidney failure, diabetes, blindness, deafness heart failure and muscle weakness.   Mutations in the mitochondria can occur at any time throughout life not at birth.  Some of the reasons that these dieses occur is due to the fact that mitochondria is in charge of sending and receiving signals to and from the nucleus, which would affect how genes are expressed.

                I do not believe that this procedure goes against the natural reproductive methods that humans use as much as people think that they do.  Throughout the years there has been discoveries made about how to produce and maintain a healthy fetus before this procedure came about.  Doctors now a day tells their pregnant patients to not smoke, avoid stress, don’t drink a large portion of caffeine and don’t drink alcohol.  As soon as the child is born there are vaccines that are given to prevent harmful diseases from occurring.  Can this new experimental procedure be so much different than all that we do already for pregnant females?                                                             

   

source article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/magazine/the-brave-new-world-of-three-parent-ivf.html?_r=0