Artificial Insemination

Information about Artificial Insemination

AIH redirects here. For the indie rock band abbreviated AIH, see Architecture in Helsinki

Artificial insemination (AI) is when sperm is placed into a female's uterus (intrauterine), or cervix (intracervical) using artificial means rather than by natural copulation. Modern techniques for artificial insemination were first developed for the dairy cattle industry to allow many cows to be impregnated with the sperm of a bull with traits for improved milk production.

Human artificial insemination

In humans artificial insemination is usually used as assisted reproductive technology to treat infertility. The aim is to impregnate the woman by non-sexual insertion of sperm into the vagina or uterus.

Preparations

A woman's menstrual cycle is closely observed, by tracking basal body temperature and changes in vaginal mucous, or using ovulation kits, ultrasounds or blood tests.

Regarding the sperm donor, just as with in vitro fertilization, it is recommended not to ejaculate for a few days before the procedure. This is to ensure a higher sperm count.

When using intra-uterine insemination (IUI), the sperm must immediately be “washed” in a laboratory. The process of “washing” the sperm increases the chances of fertilization and removes any chemicals in the semen that may cause discomfort for the woman. A chemical is added to the sperm that will separate the most active sperm in the sample.a

Procedure

When an ovum is released, semen from a donor is inserted into the female's vagina or uterus. If the procedure is successful, she conceives and carries to term a baby as normal, making her both the genetic and gestational mother.

Variations

Artificial insemination has several variations both regarding the donor of the sperm and the techniques used.

Donor variations

Either the woman's husband's sperm (artificial insemination by husband, AIH) or a known or anonymous sperm donor (artificial insemination by donor, AID) can be used.

Earlier, a popular form of artificial insemination was AIC, in which the sperm of the husband and a donor were mixed. The advantage of this procedure was that it could not be conclusively stated that the husband was not the biological father of the child. This was important in an age where artificial insemination was considered to be immoral and tantamount to adultery, with the resulting child being considered as illegitimate and having no inheritance rights. The popularity of AIC has reduced to almost nil for a number of reasons, including advances in genetic testing which make it fairly easy to identify the genetic father with a blood test, the advance of medical treatments for male infertility (such as ICSI), and the declining stigma of assisted reproductive technologies in general.

Techniques

The easiest way to inseminate is by intracervical insemination (ICI), where semen are injected into the cervix with a needle-less syringe. However, more technical procedures are sometimes needed. For example, semen can be injected directly into a woman's uterus to improve the chance of conception, in a process called intrauterine insemination (IUI). IUI can furthermore be combined with intratubal insemination (ITI), into the Fallopian tube. However, this last procedure has no beneficial effect compared with IUI^[1] ITI, however, should not be mixed up with gamete intrafallopian transfer, where both egg and sperm are inserted into the Fallopian tube.

Controversy

Artificial insemination has become a significant issue in recent years, particularly in debates revolving around surrogate parenting. Legal issues have arisen in cases where the gestational (and possibly genetic) mother decides to keep the child. Likewise, there have been debates over the rights of sperm donors.

Artificial insemination in livestock and pets

Artificial insemination is used in animals to propagate desirable characteristics of one male to many females or overcome breeding problems, particularly in the cases of horses, cattle, pigs, pedigree dogs, and honeybees. Semen is collected, extended, then cooled or frozen. It can be used on site or shipped to the female's location. The small plastic tube holding the frozen semen is referred to as a "straw". To allow the sperm to remain viable during the time before and after it is frozen, the semen is mixed with a solution containing glycerol or other cryoprotectants. An "extender" is a solution that allows the semen from a donor to impregnate more females by making insemination possible with fewer sperm. Antibiotics, such as streptomycin, are sometimes added to the sperm to control some venereal diseases.

Artificial insemination of farm animals is very common in today's agriculture industry in the developed world, especially for breeding dairy cattle (75% of all inseminations) and swine (up to 85% of all inseminations). It provides an economical means for a livestock grower to breed their herds with males having very desirable traits.

References

1. ^ Comparison of intracervical, intrauterine, and intratubal techniques for donor insemination. Hurd WW, Randolph JF Jr, Ansbacher R, Menge AC, Ohl DA, Brown AN.

External links

For architectural structures in Helsinki, Finland, see .

Architecture in Helsinki is an Australian musical collective based in the suburb of Northcote in Melbourne.
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A spermatozoon or spermatozoan (pl. spermatozoa), from the ancient Greek σπέρμα (seed) and ζῷον (living being) and more commonly known as a sperm cell
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uterus or womb is the major female reproductive organ of most mammals, including humans. One end, the cervix, opens into the vagina; the other is connected on both sides to the fallopian tubes.
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The cervix (from Latin "neck") is the lower, narrow portion of the uterus where it joins with the top end of the vagina. It is cylindrical or conical in shape and protrudes through the upper anterior vaginal wall.
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Insemination is the introduction of sperm into the female uterus of a mammal or the oviduct of an oviparous (egg-laying animal) during copulation with another animal.

Artificial insemination is when it is done by some means other than copulation.
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Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is a general term referring to methods used to achieve pregnancy by artificial or partially artificial means. It is reproductive technology used in infertility treatment, which is the only application routinely used today of
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Infertility primarily refers to the biological inability of a man or a woman to contribute to conception. Infertility may also refer to the state of a woman who is unable to carry a pregnancy to full term.
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A semen analysis evaluates certain characteristics of a man's semen and the sperm contained in the semen. It may be done while investigating a couple's infertility or after a vasectomy to verify that the procedure was successful.
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Sperm donation is the practice by which a man donates his semen to be used specifically to produce a baby. A man who donates sperm, a sperm donor, may do so at a clinic known as a sperm bank.
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The Fallopian tubes, also known as oviducts, uterine tubes, and salpinges (singular salpinx) are two very fine tubes leading from the ovaries of female mammals into the uterus.
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Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) is a tool of assisted reproductive technology against infertility. Eggs are removed from a woman's ovaries, and placed in one of the Fallopian tubes, along with the man's sperm.
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Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant for the purpose of gestating and giving birth to a child for others to raise. She may be the child's genetic mother (the more traditional form of surrogacy), or she may be implanted with someone else's fertilized
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H.O.R.S.E. is a form of poker commonly played at the high stakes tables of casinos. It consists of rounds of play cycling among:

Texas Hold 'em,
Omaha eight or better,
Razz,
Seven card Stud, and
Seven card stud E

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Sus
Linnaeus, 1758

Species

Sus barbatus
Sus bucculentus†
Sus cebifrons
Sus celebensis
Sus domestica
Sus falconeri†
Sus heureni

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Purebreds, also called purebreeds, are cultivated varieties or cultivars of an animal species, achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be pedigreed.
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C. l. familiaris

Trinomial name
Canis lupus familiaris
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a domestic subspecies of the wolf, a mammal of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora.
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In vitro fertilization^[1] (IVF) is a technique in which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the woman's womb, in vitro. IVF is a major treatment in infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed.
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Embryo transfer refers to a step in the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) whereby one or several embryos are placed into the uterus of the female with the intent to establish a pregnancy.
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Ex-situ conservation means literally, "off-site conservation". It is the process of protecting an endangered species of plant or animal by removing part of the population from a threatened habitat and placing it in a new location, which may be a wild area or within the care of
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Wildlife refers to all non-domesticated plants, animals, and other organisms. Domesticated organisms are those that have adapted to survival with the help of (or under the control of) humans, after many generations.
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Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is an in vitro fertilization procedure in which a single sperm is injected directly into an egg; this procedure is most commonly used to overcome male infertility problems.
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