IVF success for older women could be doubled in controversial treatment

November 12, 2009 by Baby Chums
Filed under: News, Pregnancy

Japanese doctors believe that IVF treatment success for older women could be massivley increased if eggs are spliced together with those from a younger woman.

Claims are bold, chances of pregnancy more than double when eggs donated by young women are used to counter age-related damaged eggs. Related costs, including the emotional well-being of the mother are therefore also claimed to be reduced.

The Japanese researchers took a healthy nucleus from an older woman’s egg and placed it in a younger woman’s egg that had had its nucleus removed, creating a healthy egg. Atsushi Tanaka, of the St Mother Hospital in Kitakyushu lead the team.

The technique has been tried on 31 eggs. It appeared to work in 25 cases, New Scientist reports in this weeks edition.

When the hybrid eggs were injected with sperm, seven started to develop into early-stage embryos - This is slightly more than twice the normal rate.

Dr Tanaka now plans to transfer embryos created in this way into women.

DNA, largely is held in the nucleus, a baby born to the new technique would look like its ‘real’ parents, but would effectively have two mothers.

This has stimulated the ethics debate around reproduction with critics pointing out that any babies born this way would effectively have two mothers - this they say defies nature.

Current fertility laws in the UK would not allow babies with three parents to be born.