A questionnaire based survey was done to assess the views of fertile individuals, infertile individuals, egg donors and recipients towards gamete donation. The survey showed that fertile individuals were significantly less inclined towards the use of donated eggs in research and treatment, compared to infertile individuals. Acceptability of gamete donation was found to be very high in all groups regardless of their fertility, but the majority of individuals, whether fertile or infertile, were opposed to the use of fetal and cadaveric sources of obtaining eggs. The effect of modifications of the freeze-thaw process was investigated in the mouse model. It was seen that slight modifications of the slow freeze protocol affected survival rates and that ultrarapid freezing achieved better survival rates than slow freezing. Human oocyte cryopreservation was performed using a slow freeze-rapid thaw protocol. In total, 34.4% of oocytes survived cryopreservation and these were randomly allocated for fertilisation by conventional <I>in vitro</I> fertilisation (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Resulting embryos were spread for chromosomal analysis. ICSI significantly improved the rates of normal fertilisation (43.2% versus 2.7%) compared to IVF (P<0.001). A normal diploid karyotype was achieved by ICSI. These studies show that oocyte donation is acceptable to the majority of both fertile and infertile individuals. Further research is required to improve the methods of oocyte cryopreservation. Once the techniques of cryopreservation have been established, ICSI may successfully be applied to enhance subsequent fertilisation rates.

No description available.

Thesis advisor: Diane Scott-Jones / The purpose of this study was to explore young adults' views on building their future families; methods of having children including adoption, in vitro fertilization (IVF), donor insemination, egg donation, and surrogacy; disclosure of these methods to children; and the importance of children's contact with extended family. The sample consisted of 82 Boston College students, 41 males and 41 females, with a mean age of 20.67 years. Participants completed a questionnaire and an open-ended interview. The majority of the participants expected to have a life-long partner, raise at least one child, and help their children build relationships with extended relatives. Males and females did not differ on most questions; however females reported thinking about their future families more often than did males (p = .01), and females expected to start their families earlier than did males (p = .02). Participants were more open to adoption than to assisted reproduction technology (ART). IVF was the most preferred among the methods of ART (p < .001). Participants reported they would be most likely to disclose information to their child had they used adoption or ART and were the genetic parent. Some participants emphasized the importance of disclose to a child had they used ART and were not the genetic parents; approximately one-fourth of participants affirmed that a child has a right to know. Participants reported it would be easier to answer their children's questions about adoption or ART than to initiate a discussion on these topics with their children (p < .001). The majority of participants reported that it was important to help their children build connections with extended family and they planned to accomplish this through visiting and preserving family traditions. The findings provide insight into young adults' expectations for creating their families. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2003. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

As an Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) that has been available for over twenty years, the transfer of healthy eggs from a presumably fertile woman into the womb of a woman diagnosed as infertile has become a common part of the landscape of human reproduction in the United States. Yet the general societal acceptance of this practice commonly known as "egg donation" oversimplifies the complex medical, ethical, and societal issues ignited by its use. In light of the limited critical discussions presently occurring about egg transfer, I will interrogate some of the silences and more ambiguous issues invoked by its practice. By giving particular attention to the often ignored experiences of egg "donors," I will analyze the popularly used discourses around this ART. In doing so, I will investigate the ways in which egg donation complicates notions of altruism, autonomy, and exploitation as well as what consequences this has for women's reproductive freedoms as envisioned by many U.S. feminists.

Recent advances in assisted reproductive technologies have resulted in an increasing number of children born by gamete donation. Children conceived by egg donation lack a genetic link with their mother whereas children conceived by donor insemination lack a genetic link with their father. In families in which parents do not disclose their use of donated gametes, the child is unaware that their mother or their father in not their genetic parent. The aim of this thesis was to assess the impact of non-disclosure, and of the absence of a genetic link between parent and child, on family functioning and child adjustment. Data were obtained from a representative sample of 36 donor insemination, 32 egg donation and 54 natural conception families when the target child was 7 years old. Standardised interview, questionnaire and observational data were obtained from mothers, fathers, children and the child?s teacher. Few differences in family functioning were found between disclosing and non-disclosing gamete donation families. Likewise, few differences emerged between gamete donation families and natural conception families. The families were found to be functioning well irrespective of whether the parents had disclosed and of whether the child lacked a genetic link with a parent. However, comparisons between donor insemination and egg donation families showed that disclosure status and family type interacted in complex ways. Contrary to predictions, disclosure was not always associated with favourable outcomes. Children in disclosing donor insemination families were rated by teachers as having fewer behavioural problems. However, observational ratings showed lower levels of positive mother-child interaction in disclosing egg donation families. The process of disclosure was also explored. In all but one disclosing family, parents had started to talk to their child about their donor conception by age 4, with disclosure typically initiated and maintained by the mother. Despite mothers? concerns, children did not appear distressed by information about their donor conception. However, interviews with the children themselves suggested that most had little understanding of their donor conception at age 7.

Gamete donors are actively searched by companies dedicated to assisted reproduction in the Spanish State, and advertising is not only legal but rather common. This thesis provides an overview of the main themes that arise from the analysis of mostly visual materials used to promote ovum donation in public spaces in Barcelona, and critically links them to current debates in intersectional feminist cultural studies of technoscience, bodily theory and visual studies. Conceptual and affective tensions between characterisations of women’s bodies, reproductive function and desires are identified and brought forward in terms that imply tropes of sacralisation, reification of cells/organs/tissues, and fragmentation of the bodily reality. It is argued that egg donation advertisements use an imagery that deeply connects with practices well rooted in Western biomedical traditions when it comes to female bodies, physiology and reproductive function, and that such practices are to be understood against the backdrop of neoliberalism. The analysis supports the idea that the publicity discourse of the assisted reproduction industry in Spain actively engages in a legitimation of the desire of biological parenthood as a right, in ways that value lives conceived in different circumstances and geopolitical contexts in radically different ways, and that can be interpreted as paving the way to prosurrogacy and/or eugenic positions. Future research is encouraged and directed towards exploring issues of agency, particularly in vulnerable groups such as migrant, poor, uneducated or racialised women. Further research is needed in order to build the foundations of a feminist ethical reflection on reproductive technologies and particularly of ovum donation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-26T12:51:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 wagnervicensoto_dissert_parte1.pdf: 574820 bytes, checksum: 52b81a5827b47b0dd96036bb137bd216 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004-06-01 / The oocyte donation and reception program is a technique in which female gametes from a woman (donor) are donated to other woman (recipient) in order to be fertilized with the respective recipient s husband spermatozoa. The present study analyzed fourteen patients who underwent 21 cycles of egg reception by this assisted reproductive medical technique at the Reproductive Medicine Institute (RMI) of São José do Rio Preto-SP, in the period from January 1998 to December 2002. The recipients age ranged between 29 to 49 years; the mean age 40 years. Ten patients (71.5%) did not report previous gestation, therefore considered women with primary infertility. In order to perform the indications to the oocyte reception we classified five patients (35.7%) as having premature menopause, five (35.7%) as ovarian failure, three (21.5%) as physiological menopause, and one (7.1%) as unsuccessful responder to previous treatments. Only six patients (42.9%) had not undergone previous infertility treatments. In 92.9% of the patients, the assisted reproductive technique used was the Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). The number of embryos transferred per cycle was between two and four. A total of 21 cycles were performed with a rate of 52.4% of gestation per cycle and 71.5% gestation per patient. The rate of multiple gestations was 27.3%. Regarding the gestation evolutions, it was observed a rate of 36.4% of miscarriage and 63.6% of ongoing pregnancies, in which 9.1% had premature delivery, and 54.5% had full term delivery without intercurrences. The rate of home baby was 50%. The oocyte donation and reception program showed to be a successful technique, with excellent results, providing a feasible and ethic way of getting pregnant some selected patients who have otherwise been considered as having an infertility reserved diagnostic. / O programa de doação-recepção de oócítos é técnica pela qual os gametas femininos (oócitos) de uma mulher (doadora) são doados a outra (receptora) para que sejam fertilizados com espermatozóides dos respectivos maridos. Este estudo analisou quatorze pacientes submetidas a 21 ciclos de ovorecepção por técnica de reprodução medicamente assistida no Instituto de Medicina Reprodutiva (IMR) de São José do Rio Preto-SP, no período de janeiro de 1998 a dezembro de 2002. A idade das pacientes receptoras variou de 29 a 49 anos com média de 40 anos. Dez (71,5%) pacientes não referiram gestação anterior, sendo consideradas como infertilidade primária. Como indicações para realização de recepção de oócitos classificamos cinco (35,7%) pacientes como menopausa precoce, cinco (35,7%) como falência ovaríana, três (21,5%) como menopausa fisiológica e uma (7,1 %) como má respondedora. Apenas seis (42,9%) pacientes não haviam sido submetidas a tratamento anterior para infertilidade. Em 92,9% das pacientes foi utilizado a injeção intra-citoplasmática de espermatozóide (lCSl) como técnica de fertilização assistida. Foram transferidos por ciclo entre dois e quatro embriões. Dos 21 ciclos realizados obteve-se taxa de 52,4% de gestação por ciclo e de 71,5% de gestação por paciente. A taxa de gestação múltipla foi de 27,3%. Em relação à evolução das gestações observou-se taxa de abortamento de 36,4% e evolução da gestações em 63,6%, com 9,1% de parto prematuro e 54,5% gestações a termo sem íntercorrêncías. A taxa de "bebê em casa" foi de 50%. O programa de doação-recepção de oócitos mostrou-se técnica de excelentes resultados, representando uma forma viável e ética de se obter gestação em pacientes selecionadas que antes tinham diagnóstico reservado de infertilidade.

No description available.