Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
A discussion on reproductive health is incomplete without a mention of infertility. A large number of couples all over the world including India are infertile, i.e., they are unable to produce children in spite of unprotected sexual co-habitation. The reasons for this could be many – physical, congenital, diseases, drugs, immunological or even psychological. In India, often the female is blamed for the couple being childless, but more often than not, the problem lies in the male partner. Specialised health care units (infertility clinics, etc.) could help in diagnosis and corrective treatment of some of these disorders and enable these couples to have children. However, where such corrections are not possible, the couples could be assisted to have children through certain special techniques commonly known as assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Though options are many, all these techniques require extremely high precision handling by specialised professionals and expensive instrumentation. Therefore, these facilities are presently available only in very few centres in the country. Obviously their benefits are affordable to only a limited number of people. Emotional, religious and social factors are also deterrents in the adoption of these methods.
Which of the following statements about assisted reproductive technologies is incorrect?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a specialised procedure to form an embryo inside the female body in which a sperm is directly injected into the ovum.
Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) help infertile couples to have children when the disorder cannot be corrected. In most of these methods the gametes meet, or the embryo is formed, in the laboratory, and the embryo is then placed in the female body to develop.
Option (1) In in vitro fertilisation, ova from the wife/donor and sperms from the husband/donor are induced to form a zygote under simulated conditions in the laboratory. — A correct statement. In vitro fertilisation (IVF) means fertilisation outside the body, in conditions almost like those inside the body. The gametes are collected and the zygote is formed in the laboratory.
Option (2) Embryos formed by in-vivo fertilisation (fusion of gametes within the female) also could be used for transfer to assist females who cannot conceive. — A correct statement. Here fertilisation takes place inside the body of one female. The embryo is then collected and transferred to another female who cannot conceive, by ZIFT (zygote intra fallopian transfer) or IUT (intra uterine transfer).
Option (3) In vitro fertilisation followed by embryo transfer is popularly known as the test tube baby programme. — A correct statement. IVF-ET means in vitro fertilisation followed by embryo transfer. It got the name test tube baby because fertilisation takes place outside the body, in laboratory glassware.
Option (4) Intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is a specialised procedure to form an embryo inside the female body in which a sperm is directly injected into the ovum. — The incorrect statement. In ICSI a single sperm is injected straight into the cytoplasm of the ovum with a fine needle. This can only be done in the laboratory, and the embryo formed is later transferred to the female. “Inside the female body” makes the line wrong.
NCERT Extract:
Infertility – “… In vitro fertilisation (IVF–fertilisation outside the body in almost similar conditions as that in the body) followed by embryo transfer (ET) is one of such methods. In this method, popularly known as test tube baby programme, ova from the wife/donor (female) and sperms from the husband/donor (male) are collected and are induced to form zygote under simulated conditions in the laboratory.”
Infertility – “… Embryos formed by in-vivo fertilisation (fusion of gametes within the female) also could be used for such transfer to assist those females who cannot conceive.”
Infertility – “… Intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is another specialised procedure to form an embryo in the laboratory in which a sperm is directly injected into the ovum.”