NAME - ARATRIKA PAUL

o CLASS – XI
o SEC - B3
o ROLL NO – 05
o SESSION – 2023 – 2024

BIOLOGY INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT
 INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

TOPIC – ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE

TECHNOLOGIES
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude

to my Biology teacher Ms. Shardha ma’am as well as
to our Principal who gave us the golden opportunity
to do this wonderful project.
Secondly, I would like to thank my parents and
friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project
within the limited time frame.
Lastly, I like to thank all my supporters who have
motivated me to fulfil my project before the timeline.

INTRODUCTION

What is Assisted Reproductive Technologies?

Assisted reproductive technologies(ART) are used to
aid in achieving pregnancy conception in individuals
who are having difficulty doing so spontaneously. It
includes fertility treatments
 THE ART PROCESS

It involves surgically removing eggs from women and

combining them with sperm in the laboratory. ART
also helps in solving abnormalities due to genetic
issues infertile couples. Couples also choose ART if
they are incongruous to particular communicable
diseases.
ART sometimes produces use donor eggs, donor
sperms or previously frozen embryos. It may also
involve a surrogate or gestational stage. A surrogate is
a person who becomes pregnant with sperm from one
partner of the couples. A gestational carrier becomes
pregnant with an egg from one partner and sperm
from the other partner.
INFERTILITY
Infertility is the inability of a person to reproduce by
natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a
healthy adult. It is the inability to become pregnant
after one year of intercourse without contraception
involving a male and female partner. It may be that
one partner cannot contribute to conception, or that a
women is unable to carry a pregnancy to full term.

CAUSES OF INFERTILITY
Factors affecting Conception –
 Production of healthy sperm
 Healthy eggs by the women
 Unblocked fallopian tubes
 The ability of the sperm to fertilize the egg
 The ability of the embryo to implant in the
uterus.
 Fertility declines with age in both men and
women, but the effects of age are much greater in
women. In their 30s, women are about half as
fertile as they are in their early 20s, and women’s
 chance of conception declines significantly after
age 35. Male fertility also declines with age, but
more gradually.

There actually can be several different causes of

infertility. Some of the causes can be fixed with
certain lifestyle changes while other causes would
involve more invasive procedures. In spite of different
causes of infertility, the great news is that there are
alternative methods you can take to get pregnant.
FEMALE INFERTILITY
Female infertility refers to infertility in women. It
affects an estimated 48 million women, with the
highest prevalence of infertility affecting people in
South Asia, Sub – Saharan Africa, North Africa and
Central Asia.
CAUSES
 AGE - The ability to conceive starts to fall
around the age of 32 age.
 SMOKING - Smoking significantly increases
the risk of infertility in both men and women, and
 it may undermine the effects of infertility
treatment. Smoking during pregnancy increases
the chance of pregnancy loss.
 Being obese or overweight – This can
increase the risk of infertility in women as well as
in male.
 Eating disorder – If an eating disorder leads
to serious weight loss, infertility problems may
arise.

 Exposure to some chemicals – Some

pesticides, herbicides, metals solvents have been
 linked to fertility problems in both men and
women. A mouse study has suggested that
ingredients in some household detergents may
reduce fertility.
 Ovulation disorders-- Blocked fallopian
tubes caused by a pelvic inflammatory disease or
endometriosis.
MALE INFERTILITY
Male infertility refers to a male’s inability to cause
pregnancy in a fertile female. In humans, it accounts
for 40 – 50% of infertility. It affects approximately
7% of all men. Male infertility is commonly due to
deficiencies in the semen, and semen quality is used
as a surrogate measure of male fecundity. The main
sign of male infertility is the inability to conceive a
child. There may be no other obvious signs or
symptoms.
CAUSES
Male infertility refers to a man’s inability to cause
pregnancy in a fertile female. In humans, it accounts
for 40 – 50% of infertility. It affects approximately
7% of all men. Male infertility is commonly due to
deficiencies in the semen, and semen quality is used
as a surrogate measure of male fecundity.
Male fertility is due to low sperm production,
abnormal sperm function or blockage that prevent
delivery of sperm. Illnesses, injuries, chronic health
problems, lifestyle choices and other factors can play
a role in causing male infertility.
. Azoospermia – lack of sperm production
. Inability to ejaculate normally
. Varicocele – Veins in the scrotum are enlarged
which can heat the inside of the scrotum and can
affect sperm production.
. Teratospemia – Increased percentage of abnormal
shapes of the sperm.
ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Assisted Reproductive Technology is a number of
different processes for the treatment of infertility. It
helps to own pregnancy in different methods like into
vitro fertilization, surrogacy, and fertility medications.
ART falls into the category of field endocrinology
and cryopreservation, reproduction technology and
infertility treatments and intracytoplasmic sperm
injection ( ICSI )
Various types of ART to solve infertility are:
 In Vitro Fertilization( IVF )
 GIFT
  ZIFT
 Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
 Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)
 Surrogacy
 Donor eggs

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

IVF is one of the most common type of ART
techniques. Major of the patients opt for IVF over
other ART methods. In this method, a women’s
eggs and a man’s sperm are undergoing
combination in the laboratory. The next step is to
transfer the embryo inside the women’s uterus
immediately after the fertilization of the embryo.
The method starts with the keeping track of the
woman’s ovulatory process and stimulating it in
order remove an egg from the woman’s ovaries.
The eggs are kept with sperm in a liquid for
fertilization in a laboratory. The fertilization of
egg results in the formation of zygote.
Furthermore, the zygote undergoes embryo culture for
the duration of 2-6 days. Finally, transfer of the
embryo culture in the same or another woman’s
uterus takes place with the aim for the
establishment of a successful pregnancy.
Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT)
Earlier before the advancement of technology,
Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer was very common
for couples having infertility issues. In this
method, eggs from woman and sperms from man
undergo combination by employing laboratory
techniques in the lab.
Later, the eggs are implanted in the fallopian tube of
the female. The fertilization occurs inside the
body of the women by applying GIFT treatment
and not in the lab. Couples who want a natural
treatment so that the fertilization and implantation
process occurs inside the woman’s body opt for
this form of assisted reproductive technology.
Zygote Intrafallopian Transfer (ZIFT)
This is another form of assisted reproductive
technology. ZIFT is similar to IVF and embryo
transfer. However, the primary difference is that
the embryo transfer after fertilization is done in
 the fallopian tube in case of ZIFT whereas in case
of IVF the embryo is transferred in the uterus. The
other name of this method is TET (tubal embryo
transfer) due to transfer of embryo directly into
the tubes. The next step is the process is to
fertilized egg in the fallopian tube at 24 hours.
Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection
It is a special form of in vitro fertilization techniques
that helps in the formation of an embryo in the
man by direct injection of the sperm into the
egg/ovum. In this technique, it is possible to
directly inject a single sperm cell into the
cytoplasm of the ova. This technique helps in the
preparation of gametes and formation of embryo
which is finally transferred into the uterus of the
woman.
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)
Intrauterine Insemination is the process of transfer of
a man’s sperm sperm into a woman’s uterus with
the help of a long narrow tube. Moreover, it is
possible to apply this method in combination with
stimulus of ovulation. Together the process can
sometimes increase the chances of pregnancy.
The success rate of this technique completely depends
upon the reason of infertility. Additionally, it is
possible to increase the success rate of this
method by nearly 20% if the inseminations take
place on a monthly basis with fresh or frozen
sperms. However, the increase of success rate
depends upon woman’s age, fertility medications,
infertility diagnosis and many other reasons.

Surrogacy
Surrogacy refers to the process where another woman
bears a baby of the couple facing infertility issues.
The formation of the baby can take place either by
fertilization of egg and sperm from the couple or
from donor egg and sperm. Thus, we can say a
surrogate act as the carrier of the baby.
Donor Eggs
This ART method is applicable when it is not possible
to see the woman’s egg or there is some defect in
the formation of eggs. The eggs/ova of the donor
is taken. Therefore, the donor eggs further
undergo fertilization with the man’s sperm.
Moreover, the embryo remains in incubating
condition until the transfer of the embryo to the
women’s uterus. The same process is applicable
using sperm from a doctor if the same problem
lies in male member of the couple.

CASE STUDY
1. A patient named Eeshika, 34 year old,
housewife and her husband 36 years old,
Doctor, married for 8 years, trying for a baby for
last 6 months. The patient had history of
 epilepsy for which she was taking antiepileptic
drugs.
When the couple came for first consultation,
ultrasound showed less egg reserve and was
counseled for IVF. They tried one unsuccessful
IVF cycle with self – eggs.
After the first IVF cycle, the dose of antiepileptic
drugs was increased. Pregnancy may worsen
epilepsy and vice versa. So, we recommended the
self egg surrogacy to the couple.
We were lucky to be successful in the first cycle. The
surrogate and now she is a mother of 6 months old
female baby.
Many women are unable to be mothers of their
genetic child as they suffer from medical
conditions which pose a risk on their lives once
they are pregnant. Some such condition are heart
disease, uncontrolled hypertension and epilepsy.

CONCLUSION
As we can see, there are many options available for
the treatment of infertility. However, these
 techniques require very high precision technique
along with expensive instruments and experienced
and trained professionals. The number of centers
are gradually increasing but still there are very
few centers.
The main aim of the method is to have children.
However, one thing that majority of the couple
unable to have children overlook is that there are
many orphan and destitute children in need of a
proper life. These children will not even survive
till maturity if they do not get a good life.
Moreover, there is a law in india that help a
couple to adopt these children.
The couples if opting for this option for parenthood,
not only they will be able to have a child but will
be also give a proper and healthy life to another
child .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
For the completion of my Biology Investigatory
Project I have taken help from the following
websites and books:
 Biohack
 Handbook, Biology
PAGE OF CERTIFICATE
This is to certify ARATRIKA PAUL has
successfully completed her Biology Investigatory
Project on topic Assisted reproductive
technologies as prescribes by Ms. Sharrdaa
Chakraaborty during the academic year 2023-24
as per the guidelines given by the Biology
Department

Sign of teacher
Sharrdaa Chakraaborty