Controlling Fertility

Question 1

Which hormones can be used to artificially change how fertile a woman is?

Answer 1

FSH, LH, Oestrogen, Progesterone

Question 2

How does taking oestrogen change how fertile a woman is? Why does it work because oestrogen usually stimulates the release of eggs?

Answer 2

It can be used to prevent the release of an egg, so it can be used as a method of contraception.
If oestrogen is taken every day to keep the level of it permanently high, it inhibits the production of FSH, after a while egg development and production stop.

Question 3

How does taking Progesterone change how fertile a woman is?

Answer 3

Stimulates the production of thick cervical mucus which prevents any sperm getting through and reaching the egg.

Question 4

What is the combined oral contraceptive pill?

Answer 4

Oral contraceptive

first made in the 1950s it has high levels of Oestrogen and Progesterone

Question 5

What was there concern over with oestrogen pills? Therefore nowadays…

Answer 5

Side effects like blood clots

Pill contains lower doses of oestrogen so it has fewer side effects.

Question 6

What are the advantages of the pill?

Answer 6

1) it’s over 99% effective at preventing pregnancy

2) It reduced the risk of getting some types of cancer

Question 7

What are the disadvantages of the pill?

Answer 7

1) It isn’t 100% effective
2) It can cause side effects like headaches, nausea, irregular menstrual bleeding and fluid retention.
3) It doesn’t protect against STDs

Question 8

State 1 advantage and 1 disadvantage of a progesterone-only pill

Answer 8

Ad - Fewer side effects

Dis - Not as effective

Question 9

Some women have levels of [ ] to low to cause their eggs to [ ]. This means no eggs are released and the woman can’t [ ].

Answer 9

FSH
mature
get pregnant

Question 10

What can be done for woman who have levels of FSH to low to get pregnant? State 1 advantage and 2 disadvantage

Answer 10

FSH and LH can be injected by these women to stimulate egg release in their ovaries
Ad: It helps a lot of women get pregnant when previously thy couldn’t
Dis: 1) Doesn’t always work - some women may have to do it many times = expensive
2) Too many eggs could be stimulated resulting in unexpected multiple pregnancies.

Question 11

What does IVF stand for?

Answer 11

In vitro fertilisation

Question 12

What does FSH stand for?

Answer 12

Follicle-Stimulating Hormone

Question 13

What does LH stand for?

Answer 13

Luteinising Hormone

Question 14

How does IVF work?

Answer 14

Involves collecting eggs from the woman’s ovaries and fertilising them in a lab using the man’s sperm.
These are grown into embryos
Once the embryos are tiny balls of cells, one or two of them are transferred to the woman’s uterus to improve the chance of pregnancy

Question 15

Why are FSH and LH given to a woman before she undergoes IVF?

Answer 15

Given before egg collection to stimulate egg production - so more than one egg can be collected

Question 16

What is an advantage of IVF?

Answer 16

Fertility treatment can give an infertile couple a child

Question 17

What are the disadvantages of IVF?

Answer 17

1) Some women have strong reactions to the hormones (vomiting, dehydration, abdominal pain)
2) Some reports of an increase risk of cancer due to the hormonal treatment
3) Multiple births can happen if more than 1 embryo grows into a baby - these are risky for the mother + babies. (Higher risk of miscarriage or stillbirth)