The experimental technique making this possible -- a
cytoplasmic transfer, in Alana's case -- was halted by the Food and Drug Administration in 2001.
Jacques Cohen and Jason Barritt at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of Saint Barnabas in New Jersey reported that 12 of 30 babies born with the help of
cytoplasmic transfer carried donor mitochondria.
In addition, 30 humans have been born from a very similar technique called
cytoplasmic transfer and they are also apparently healthy.
So the embryo produced with
cytoplasmic transfer can end up with two genetic mothers.
His technique, known as cytoplasmic transfer, was intended to "rescue" the eggs of infertile women who had undergone repeated, unsuccessful attempts at in vitro fertilization, or IVF.
When the first baby conceived through cytoplasmic transfer was born in 1997, the press instantly hailed Cohen's technique as yet another technological miracle.
At a recent meeting in Europe, the New Jersey researchers reported that one of the children conceived through cytoplasmic transfer has been diagnosed with "pervasive developmental disorder," a catch-all term for symptoms that range from mild delays in speech to autism.
Now, many bioethicists believe that Cohen's experiment with cytoplasmic transfer was just one more small step towards a world in which eugenics is another name for making babies.
Other topics include
cytoplasmic transfer, egg nuclear transfer, and assisted hatching.
TORONTO -- Both intracytoplasmic sperm injection and cytoplasmic transfer pose certain theoretical, but as yet unproved, dangers to embryos that are created as a result of these techniques, according to an expert in cell and developmental biology.
A threat posed by both ICSI and another reproductive technology called cytoplasmic transfer stems from mixing two sources of mitochondria, Dr.
Cytoplasmic transfer involves sucking out about 5% of the cytoplasm from an infertile woman's egg and replacing it with cytoplasm from a donor egg.
