PSIO 469 Exam 3 Flashcards
In what situations is sperm banking used in?
Vasectomy, Cancer, IUI/ART, High risk occupational exposure.
In what situations is egg banking used in?
Cancer, Delaying reproduction, failure to obtain sperm on retrieval day
How old do sperm and egg donors need to be?
Egg 19-30 Sperm 20-39
why is sperm quarantined for 6 months?
After an initial testing, there may be no detection. Waiting 6 months and repeating testing may increase the likelihood of identifying any infections that were initially undetectable.
What is cryopreservation?
Cooling cells or tissues by preserving them outside the body. Temp should be about -196 C or 321 F.
How are cells protected from freezing injury?
- Controlled cooling and thawing rate
- Addition of cryoprotectants- reduce the formation of ice crystals within the cells- this minimizes cell damage.
What causes extracellular crystal formation?
As the temp. decreases during cooling, water molecules in the extracellular space begin to form ice crystals.
Decrease in water content causes the concentration of solutes to ___?
Increase
what is a hypertonic solution?
Hypertonic solution has a higher concentration of solutes compared to another solution.
What causes cells to become dehydrated?
Hypertonicity
what do cryoprotectants do?
Increase the osmolarity of the extracellular fluid effectively lowering its freezing point and preventing intracellular ice formation.
why is dehydration beneficial?
It helps minimize intracellular ice formation by reducing the amount of water available within the cell.
define solute effect and intracellular ice formation:
Solute Effect: Freezing too slowly allows too much dehydration.
Intracellular ice formation: Freezing too rapidly allows too much intracellular ice formation.
what are optimal sizes of sperm, embryo and oocyte?
sperm is about 5-60 micrometers. Embryo is 40 micrometers. Egg is 130 micrometers.
permeating vs non-permeating?
Permeating: Small molecules are able to cross membrane and enter the cell. Able to form hydrogen bonds with water ( this may prevent or slow ice crystal formation) ex: glycerol
Non-permeating: Larger molecules that do not cross cell membrane and remain extracellular. Slow or prevent extracellular ice formation. Often used in combination with permeating. Ex: Sucrose
what is the post-thaw motility rate for sperm?
20-65%
what causes lowered sperm motility post-thaw?
Decreased integrity of membrane, altered energy metabolism and synthesis.
why is oocyte freezing not the best?
meiotic spindle is highly sensitive to temp. Microtubule and microfilament damage may lead to abnormal division of chromosome. Freezing oocyte may damage cortical reaction and an impaired corticol reaction may increase the risk of polyspermy. Ice crystal formation may also cause mechanical stress on zona pellucida.
why should ICSI be used in frozen oocyte?
Direct injection allows bypassing the need for sperm to pass through the zona pellucida which may be challenging.
what are stem cell characteristics?
- self-renewing
- unspecialized
- can give rise to specialized cells
what is a totipotent stem cell?
A cell that can develop into any cell in the body, including extra-embryonic membranes (trophectoderm and chorion)
what is a blastomere?
A single cell from a 2-8 cell ( day 1-3) embryo.
Chimeric organism:
A single organism that is composed of two or more genetically distinct cell lines that originated from different zygotes.
Inner cell mass of day 5 can give rise to all… except ____
chorion
What is multipotent?
can become specialized cell or organ in which it resides.
what are the steps involved in making embryonic (pluripotent) stem cell?
- Create embryo 2. Remove inner cell mass from blastocyst (day 5) 3. Culture cells
what type of cells are embryonic stem cells?
Totipotent or pluripotent
What type of cells are adult stem cells?
multipotent
embryonic stem cells are derived from ____
inner cell mass of developing blastocyst.
What are tests to identify embryonic stem cells?
- grow and sub culture cells for months. 2. Look for surface proteins that are found in undifferentiated cells (OCt4) 3. examine chromosome under microscope (karyotypes) 4. determine if cells can be grown and subcultured after freezing, thawing 5. demonstrate differentiation potential.
what is spontaneous differentiation?
Stem cells are allowed to differentiate in a culture without the addition of signaling molecules or external cues. Cells usually clump and form 3-dimensional aggregates.
what is directed differentiation?
Manipulate the stem cells using growth factors.
what does the presence of oct-4 indicate?
That a stem cell is in an undifferentiated state
what does the presence of PAX6 indicate?
gives insight into developmental lineage or differentiation status of cell population.
what is a teratoma?
It is a tumor that contains a mixture of tissues derived from all three germ layers.
How can teratoma be formed?
By injecting pluripotent stem cells into immunocompromised mice.
what does the presence of teratoma tell us?
That the pluripotent stem cells are capable of differentiating into a wide range of cell types.
what technique is used to assess the pluripotency and developmental potential of pluripotent stem cells?
tetraploid complementation
what is regenerative medicine?
branch of medicine that develops to regrow, repair or replace damaged or diseased cells, organs, tissues.
what does regenerative medicine include?
Artificial organs, therapeutic stem cells
what are some challenges with stem cells and regenerative medicine?
Has to be free of animal products, avoid harming recipient in any way, be able to differentiate into desired cell type
Explain the process of SCNT:
In somatic cell nuclear transfer, somatic cell is collected from an organism to be cloned. The Nucleus of the somatic cell is transferred to an enucleated oocyte from a female egg donor. After nuclear transfer, the reconstructed egg cell is stimulated for cell division by electric fusion. Egg cell undergoes division and forms a blastocyst.
Explain why SCNT does not result in true clones?
Because the somatic cell and the egg come from different and unrelated individuals. Cloned embryo produced will inherit its mitochondrial DNA soley from the egg cell, and not the somatic cell donor.
mutations in mitochondrial dna are linked to?
deafness, neurological and muscle/heart problems, type II DM
What is mitochondrial DNA transfer?
Aims to transfer nuclear DNA from the intended parents embryo to a donor embryo with healthy mitochondria.
describe the role of mifepristone and misoprostol:
Mifepristone is an anti-progesterone drug, it prevents progesterone from keeping the myometrium quite. Misoprostol is a prostoglandin E1 derivative, it causes cervical dilation and fetal expulsion.
define infertility:
Inability to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months of unprotected intercourse
list some potential causes of infertility in females:
endometriosis, pcos, chemotherapy, ovulatory dysfunction