Study finds why is it so difficult for humans to have baby
- 2 years ago
A new study by a researcher at the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath contends that 'selfish chromosomes' are to blame for the early demise of the majority of human embryos.
The discovery explains why human embryos frequently don't survive while fish embryos do not have repercussions for the management of infertility. The findings of the research were published in the journal 'PLoS Biology'.
About half of fertilised eggs die very early on before a mother even knows she is pregnant. Tragically, many of those that survive to become a recognised pregnancy will be spontaneously aborted after a few weeks. Such miscarriages are both remarkably common and highly distressing.
The immediate cause of many of these early deaths is that the embryos have the wrong number of chromosomes. Fertilised eggs should have 46 chromosomes, 23 from mum in the eggs, and 23 from dad in the sperm.
The discovery explains why human embryos frequently don't survive while fish embryos do not have repercussions for the management of infertility. The findings of the research were published in the journal 'PLoS Biology'.
About half of fertilised eggs die very early on before a mother even knows she is pregnant. Tragically, many of those that survive to become a recognised pregnancy will be spontaneously aborted after a few weeks. Such miscarriages are both remarkably common and highly distressing.
The immediate cause of many of these early deaths is that the embryos have the wrong number of chromosomes. Fertilised eggs should have 46 chromosomes, 23 from mum in the eggs, and 23 from dad in the sperm.