Another baby has been born in the United Kingdom who has three biological parents. The revolutionary treatment has been used less than five times worldwide. It is the first time it has taken place in a British hospital.
The baby is made from the sperm of the father and eggs from two different women. The parental couple is responsible for 99.9 percent of the child’s DNA and the female donor for about 0.1 percent. The share is according to BBC News so small that the donor will not determine external characteristics.
The child was brought into the world through a new form of IVF. In this treatment, an egg cell is fertilized outside the uterus (for example in a test tube) and doctors then place the embryo in the uterus.
In the United Kingdom there was an IVF form with so-called mitochondrial donation. Mitochondria in the cells of the body convert food into energy. Some women with genetic abnormalities, such as an energy metabolism disorder, can pass them on to their children. And for them, the disease can be fatal.
Doctors prevent this by creating embryos with healthy mitochondria. During IVF treatment, the harmful DNA is removed and ‘mixed’ with the same DNA from an egg cell from a healthy donor. The new egg is then fertilized with the man’s sperm.
The treatment has been possible in the United Kingdom since 2015. It was used worldwide for the first time in 2016 when a Jordanian woman gave birth in Mexico after the pregnancy was realized through this new method. In 2019, a child was born in Greece with three biological parents.
2023-05-10 09:11:14
#Baby #born #biological #parents #revolutionary #treatment #Tech #Science
