Baby parented by three individuals, was given birth this Thursday in a UK hospital, the very controversial technique was legalized by the parliament in December, in attempts to thwart inherited diseases.
According to the Huffington post, the technique was not taken ahead by the doctors at the Newcastle Fertility Centre until the individual parent agreed on it.
This significant decision represents the culmination of many years hard work by researchers, clinical experts and regulators," said Sally Cheshire, head of the human fertilization and embryology authority.
"Patients will now be able to apply individually to the HFEA(Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority) to undergo mitochondrial donation treatment at Newcastle, which will be life-changing for them, as they seek to avoid passing on serious genetic diseases to future generations," she said.
The human cell comprises of two DNA structures, one is nuclear DNA which is present in the nucleus of cell and the other DNA is mitochondrial DNA which is present in the cytoplasm of the cell. Unlike the nuclear DNA which is inherited half from mother and half from father, the mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother that has been a source to some inherited disease affecting 1 in every 5000 births. This technique allows replacing the defected mitochondrial DNA with a perfect one minimizing the possibilities of the disease.
Many years of research have led to the development of pronuclear transfer as a treatment to reduce the risk of mothers transmitting diseases to their children, Mary Herbert, a professor of reproductive biology at Newcastle Fertility Centre and Newcastle University, said in a statement. Its a great testament to the regulatory system here in the UK that research innovation can be applied in treatment to help families affected by these devastating diseases.
This is an invitro-fertilization technique that requires the pronuclei the nucleus of the sperm and the egg during the process of fertilization from an embryo containing the mothers unhealthy mitochondria. These pronuclei are then inserted in a donor embryo containing healthy mitochondria, stated in Rawstory Post.
The baby with this technique will have a genetic makeup from all three parent, one male and two mothers.
A Jordanian couple was the first to parent a baby born through this technique in Mexico, which was led by a team of U.S. doctors, the reason for using this technique was to avoid Leigh Syndrome a neurological disorder that is transferred by the mothers mitochondria and is fatal in early childhood.
The techniques were also opposed by UK churches on both ethical and psychological grounds.
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