User:Z3373894

Lab Attendance

Lab 1 -- Z3373894 11:49, 25 July 2012 (EST)

Lab 2 -- Z3373894 10:37, 1 August 2012 (EST)

Lab 3 -- Z3373894 10:06, 8 August 2012 (EST)

Lab 4 -- Z3373894 10:23, 15 August 2012 (EST)

Lab 5 -- Z3373894 10:05, 22 August 2012 (EST)

Lab 6 -- Z3373894 10:02, 29 August 2012 (EST)

Lab 1 Assessment

1. Identify the origin of In Vitro Fertilization and the 2010 nobel prize winner associated with this technique and add a correctly formatted link to the Nobel page.

In vitro fertilisation (IVF) has its origins in the 1970s, specifically 1978 when the first successful birth of an IVF baby occurred. This birth was the result of the work of physiologist Robert G. Edwards, who developed the technique and subsequently won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2010 for his work. The procedure involves removing a healthy ovum from the mother and fertilising it outside of the female's body, where the term in vitro, which is Latin for "in glass" comes from. Today, this term is used to describe any procedure that takes place outside of the body, in opposition to an in vivo procedure which takes place inside the body. The zygote is then implanted back into the woman's uterus where it can develop normally.

2. Identify and add a PubMed reference link to a recent paper on fertilisation and describe its key findings (1-2 paragraphs).

A recent paper published on the topic of fertilisation includes a paper from researchers at the University of Pisa in Italy entitled DHEA supplementation improves follicular microenviroment in poor responder patients. This study looked at a group of 24 women aged between 31 and 42 diagnosed with poor ovarian response (POR) in which fewer follicles properly develop. These women were randomly split into two groups; one of which received no special treatment prior to IVF, while the other group received dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) supplementation, which was hypothesised to increase the quality of the oocytes and therefore increase the chance of a successful pregnancy.

The results showed that the group of women that received DHEA supplementation prior to IVF had lower levels of HIF1 in their follicular fluid; a substance produced by the body in response to low oxygen levels. This suggests that DHEA increases the supply of oxygen to the developing follicle and thus increases its quality, as it had been previously shown that oxygen plays a very important role in follicle development. Although the study demonstrated with statistical significance that supplementation with DHEA led to higher levels of HIF1, it could not be shown that supplementation led to better IVF outcomes, however this was attributed to the small sample size. The study concluded that DHEA supplementation is a viable option to increasing follicle development in women with POR as it is relatively cheap, easily administered and has minimal side effects.

Lab 2 Assessment

File:Macaque Oocyte.jpg

A recently fertilised macaque oocyte.

1. Upload an image from a journal source relating to fertilization or the first 2 weeks of development as demonstrated in the practical class. Including in the image “Summary” window: An image name as a section heading, Any further description of what the image shows, A subsection labeled “Reference” and under this the original image source, appropriate reference and all copyright information and finally a template indicating that this is a student image. ----

Note - This image was originally uploaded as part of an undergraduate science student project and may contain inaccuracies in either description or acknowledgements. Students have been advised in writing concerning the reuse of content and may accidentally have misunderstood the original terms of use. If image reuse on this non-commercial educational site infringes your existing copyright, please contact the site editor for immediate removal.

The image to the left is from a journal article that investigated both in vivo and in vitro fertilisation in the macaque monkey. It shows a macaque oocyte containing both the maternal and paternal pronuclei. The link to this article can be found both below in 'references' and also in the description of the image.

2. Identify a protein associated with the implantation process, including a brief description of the protein's role.

A protein associated with the implantation process is the glycoprotein fibronectin. It is involved in cell adhesion, growth, migration and differentiation; making it important in many bodily processes including wound healing and embryo implantation. In implantation, it guides cell attachment and migration, and the absence of fibronectin leads to defects in mesodermal, neural tube and vascular development; causing early embryo death.

Lab 3 Assessment

1. Identify the difference between "gestational age" and "post-fertilisation age" and explain why clinically "gestational age" is used in describing human development.

Gestational age is the time that has elapsed since the pregnant woman's last menstrual period began, measured in weeks. Post-fertilisation age is the time that has elapsed since the oocyte was fertilised by the sperm, also measured in weeks. Fertilisation reliably occurs 2 weeks after the last menstrual period, so gestational age is roughly 2 weeks greater than the post-fertilisation age. Gestational age is used clinically to describe human development as it is often difficult to identify the precise timing of fertilisation, thus the time since the last menstrual period (gestational age) is more convenient. Using gestational age, a pregnancy can be identified as premature or postmature. This identification has implications for a successful birth, as premature babies have a greater risk of complications and death.

2. Identify using histological descriptions at least 3 different types of tissues formed from somites.

Three different types of tissues formed from somites include the dermis (from dermatomes), skeletal muscle (from myotomes) and bone (from sclerotomes). Histologically, the dermis is an area of connective tissue under the outer, keratinised epidermis, that contains blood vessels and nerve endings. Skeletal muscle is muscle that appears striated and is under voluntary control by the nervous system. Bone is a specialised form of connective tissue that is organised into compact and spongy forms. The compact components provide rigidity while spongy bone works to distribute loads across the bone.

Lab 4 Assessment

1. Identify the 2 invasive prenatal diagnostic techniques related to the placenta and 2 abnormalities that can be identified with these techniques.

An invasive prenatal diagnostic technique related to the placenta is an amniocentesis. This involves inserting a needle through the mother's abdomen and collecting a sample of the amniotic fluid, which contains cells shed by the fetus. Through analysis, this technique can identify chromosomal disorders such as Down syndrome as well as open neural tube defects such as spina bifida.

Another invasive prenatal diagnostic technique is chorionic villus sampling (CVS). This involves inserting a catheter through the cervix and removing a small sample of placental tissue, which has the same genetic material as the fetus. This can then be tested for chromosomal abnormalities like Down syndrome, however cannot detect neural tube defects such as spina bifida, which an amniocentesis can detect.

2. Identify a paper that uses cord stem cells therapeutically and write a brief (2-3 paragraph) description of the paper's findings.

A paper that uses umbilical cord stem cells therapeutically is one from a group of researchers at Seoul National University in South Korea entitled Comparison of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Derived from Fat, Bone Marrow, Wharton's Jelly, and Umbilical Cord Blood for Treating Spinal Cord Injuries in Dogs. They induced spinal cord injuries in dogs through the use of balloon catheter compression and then applied stem cells from a variety of sources to the site of injury and compared the recovery that was achieved between the different groups.

It was found that all stem cell treatments produced significant improvements in locomotion at 8 weeks after implantation, and that this was accompanied by increased numbers of neurons and neurofilament-positive fibers at the lesion site. However it was also found that even though the umbilical cord stem cells produced no greater improvement in locomotion than the other stem cells, the umbilical cord stem cells produced more nerve regeneration and anti-inflammation activity.

Lab 5 Assessment

Completing the in class Quiz!

Lab 6 Assessment

To Be added.