Preimplantation genetics. An overview.

Abstract

Advances in methods used to detect specific genes or gene products have contributed to the development of methods to identify genetic disorders in preimplantation embryos. A variety of strategies have been developed, including polar body biopsy, removal of cells from multicell stage embryos, and biopsy of the polar trophectoderm from expanded blastocysts. These embryos are derived primarily from oocyte retrievals and in vitro fertilization procedures, although blastocysts could be obtained by uterine lavage. A number of animal models have been evaluated that demonstrate the feasibility of such techniques in the diagnosis of genetic disease. Clinical trials are under way in a number of clinical centers and current outcomes with human embryos are cited.