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FERTILIZATION BY SPERM MICROINJECTION AND ZONA DRILLING: APPLICATIONS IN THE BASIC AND CLINICAL SCIENCES
Citation:
Perreault, S., S. Naish, AND B. Zirkin. FERTILIZATION BY SPERM MICROINJECTION AND ZONA DRILLING: APPLICATIONS IN THE BASIC AND CLINICAL SCIENCES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/D-88/096 (NTIS PB88211784).
Description:
Experimental manipulation of fertilization provides an exciting research approach for studying mechanisms involved in sperm/egg interaction and holds great promise as a means for overcoming some forms of human infertility. The report will focus on three methods for assisted fertilization: (1) micro-injection of a spermatozoon (or sperm nucleus) directly into the ooplasm; (2) injection of motile sperm through the zona pellucida and into the perivitelline space (PVS); and (3) zona-drilling or the creation of a channel in the zona pellucida through which sperm may contact the oocyte membrane directly. The use of these methods to address a variety of questions in gamete and developmental biology, as well as to initiate embryonic development in animals and humans, will be reviewed.