Jonathan van Blerkom - Böcker

In the last few years, the adoption and worldwide proliferation of clinical procedures for medically assisted conception have been associated with the examination and analysis of spermatozoa, oocytes and early embryos under a variety of in vivo and in vitro conditions.

The intent of "Essential IVF" is to present issues in clinical IVF that encompass the varied activities of those engaged in this field. By integrating clinical, basic research and laboratory-related aspects of human reproduction, readers with diverse interests should obtain a more complete understanding of the impact, importance and relevance of each in the progress of infertility treatment and an appreciation of whether emerging technologies will or should contribute to this progress in the near future. The topics selected for this volume include research that has begun to explain the origins of different follicular, gamete, embryo and uterine competence as well as specific laboratory procedures and protocols that may have important clinical implications for the generation of developmentally viable embryos. Comprehensive reviews and discussions of past and contemporary studies in clinically-oriented chapters provide a biological and outcome-based context in which current practices and protocols in human IVF may need to be reconsidered.

In the last few years, the adoption and worldwide proliferation of clinical procedures for medically assisted conception have been associated with the examination and analysis of spermatozoa, oocytes and early embryos under a variety of in vivo and in vitro conditions. These analyses have enabled correlations to be made between the behavior of gametes, the pattern of early embryonic development and the initiation of a normal pregnancy. Collectively, the findings have not only enormously increased our understanding of the process of early human development, but also have provided new insights into the origin and causes of reproductive failure in man. The research presented in this volume describes recent results derived from the study of normal and abnormal patterns of human spermatogenesis, oogenesis and early embryogenesis. The chapters discuss aberrations in morphodynamic and morphophysiological processes that have clinical relevance in human infertility and conception. Two of the chapters describe, respectively, the basic research that allows the cryopreservation of human oocytes and embryos, and the development of in vitro systems that permit the study of cell differentiation and interaction during the peri-implantation period. When relevant, each chapter extrapolates findings from in vitro experimentation to the comparable situation that is observed in vivo.

Advances in the development and application of electron microscopic techniques have occurred recently such that the electron microscope has evolved to become an essential tool in both basic and clinical research.