Friday, January 29, 2010

Rocking embryos helps IVF

I'm not surprised by that gently rocking embryos (and maybe singing to them?) improved IVF success, but it also argues for getting yourself healthy and letting Mother Nature do her thing. I wonder if there will be any long term consequences from IVF...

From CBC news Canada:

(HealthDay News) - Scientists say they boosted the success of in vitro fertilization in mice by gently rocking embryos before implanting them into the womb.

No evidence yet proves that the same technique would work with human embryos, but authors of a new study hope it might do just that.

"By making the cells feel more at home, we get better cells, which is key to having better infertility treatment," said study co-author Shu Takayama, an associate professor in the University of Michigan's department of biomedical engineering.

The idea of the research is to mimic the motion that an embryo feels traveling through the fallopian tube to the uterus. Human embryos created with the assistance of in vitro fertilization don't get the benefit of such exposure.

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