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Microsurgical Fertilization Of Mammalian Eggs: An Assessment Of Clinical Utilization, Susan E. Lanzendorf

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Microsurgical fertilization is the technique in which a spermatozoon or sperm nucleus is injected into the cytoplasm of an egg. To establish a foundation for the use of microsurgical fertilization as a means of treating infertility, this study evaluated the procedure in hamster and human eggs. Hamster sperm nuclei were microinjected into hamster eggs to determine the rate of abnormal fertilization and to ultrastructurally assess cellular damage by transmission electron microscopy. Hamster eggs were also injected with human spermatozoa obtained from fertile and infertile men to evaluate the fertilizing potential of the sperm cells. In addition, human eggs donated by …