Nuclear Transfer And Its Effect On The Body Of A Surrogate Mother

Reproductive cloning is similar to IVF because it also brings embryo into existence. This potential infertility treatment involves the creation of embryo using the genetic material of the parent. This is done by extracting nucleus from the person’s somatic cell and transfer into an oocyte through somatic cell nuclear transfer. Thus, the processed oocyte

Therapeutic cloning, what is it? Some might think it involves the cloning of a human being. In actuality, it refers to the removal of a nucleus, which contains the genetic material, from virtually any cell of the body and its transfer by injection into an egg (acquired from female) that is not fertilized and from which the nucleus has been removed. Therapeutic cloning can also be referred to somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). To perform SCNT researchers extract the nucleus from the egg, the nucleus stores all the genetic information for any living subject. Then researches take a somatic cell, which is any type of cell that is not a gamete, and extract its nucleus from the cell.

wish to copy and then transfer the DNA from the cell into an egg cell. The egg then develops

in a laboratory setting -- an egg with sperm outside of a woman's womb. Once the embryo develops, it is implanted in a woman's uterus.

The majority of the process of keeping an embryo alive for an extended period of time is the same as in-vitro fertilization. “One day after retrieval (Day 1), the embryologist begins their day with the assessment of fertilization and by separating out the normally fertilized eggs. Cell division or cleavage will occur after the intermingling of the chromosomes overnight. By Day 2, normally dividing embryos should have four cells. Embryos will be further assessed on Days 2 and 3 for transfer or placement into more advanced blastocyst growth media until day 5 or 6”(AZFertility). However, in order to continue the growth, once the embryos are placed into the culture, they are placed into incubator. The majority of the difficulty is keeping the embryo alive within the

The first being a female gamete, known as the ovum (egg/oocyte) and the second being a somatic cell, referring to the cells of the human body. Skin cells, fat cells, and liver cells are a few examples of somatic cells. The nucleus of the donor egg cell is sucked out through a micropipette and discarded, leaving a recipient egg with no nucleus, but an intact cytoplasm and the cellular machinery for producing an embryo. Next a donor somatic cell containing the genetically manipulated DNA, is taken from the cow with lack of BLG protein in its milk, and is cultured in a low nutrient medium which deprives the cell from nutrients so it becomes dormant. The cell stops dividing and switches off its active genes. The two cells are placed next to each other and an electrical pulse causes them to fuse together, the somatic cell nucleus is reprogrammed by its host egg cell. A time delay improves this process by allowing unknown factors in the cytoplasm to activate the chromatin. Cell division is then triggered by a second electric pulse engaging cellular activity and effectively jump starting the cell into the production of an embryo. After almost a week, the egg is implanted into the uterus of a surrogate mother. The egg is now viable and capable of producing an adult organism containing all the necessary genetic information from just one parent. This results in the original genetically engineered cow successfully producing Daisy, the cloned cow with genetically modified DNA leading to the production of milk lacking in the BLG

hen people think of the word “cloning” they often have in mind frightening images of duplicates of humans in a kind of mad scientist experiment. In fact, many people were outraged when Dolly came as a result of a cloning experiment in Scotland (Brown, 2009). Therapeutic cloning, however, is completely different and does not involve the creation of a perfect copy from another human being. In therapeutic cloning, fertilization of sperm or eggs is not implanted into the uterus to create a child. Therapeutic cloning is a phase of a procedure known as somatic cell transfer (SCNT) In this procedure; scientists take a somatic cell from the nucleus of an egg (the nucleus contains genetic material) and then it is transplanted. In practical applications

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer is the process of creating a cell, organ, or organism by using an egg cell from one donor and a body cell from another donor. It is used in therapeutic cloning, which is the creation of a healthy body cell to replace a faulty cell, allowing for patient-specific treatments. SCNT can also be used in reproductive cloning, which is used to clone full animals or possibly humans. The process of SCNT is completed by taking an egg cell from a female donor, and a body cell, any body cell, from another donor. The nucleus is removed from the egg cell, while the nucleus from the body cell is implanted into the egg cell as a replacement. The cell begins to divide, and eventually grows into a developed organism with the same

Therapeutic cloning is now in reach due to cloned early-stage human embryos and human embryos generated only from eggs, in a process called parthenogenesis. The use of therapeutic cloning is aimed to implant a cloned embryo into a woman’s uterus leading to the birth of a cloned baby. Reproductive cloning is thought to have potential dangers to both mother and fetus that make it unwarranted today. Because of that, a restriction is placed until the issues of safety and dangers are solved.

Cloning, or somatic cell nuclear transfer, involves complex maneuvering. A cell is first taken from the body of the person or animal to be cloned. It is then inserted into an egg cell whose nucleus has been removed, thus creating the equivalent to a zygote, or fertilized egg. After certain chemical adjustments, the cells of the zygote divide and multiply, as if it had been created from an egg and sperm. The zygote becomes a blastocyst, an early-stage, five-day-old embryo consisting of about 150 stem cells. If the blastocyst is placed into a surrogate mother’s uterus, it could possibly develop into a fully grown person, a replica of the original cell’s donor.

This process involves tow different cells. One of these is the female gamete egg or oocyte. The other is the somatic cell (body cell). The nucleus of the gamete is removed using a micropipette and discarded leaving the cell deprogrammed or without the DNA of the egg cell donor. The mitochondria DNA will still be present however which does mean that the clone will not be an exact replica of the somatic cell donor. The nucleus of a cell contains a complete copy of all of the genes required for life. The nucleus of the somatic cell is put into a low nutrient environment to ‘deprive’ the cell. The deprivation of nutrients allows the cell to stops dividing and become dormant. This dormant or embryonic state prevents the gene from being expressed. The nucleus of the cell is then removed and the enucleated cell is discarded. The enucleated cell from the gamete and the nucleus from the somatic cell are then fused using a mild electric pulse. Once the nucleus is inside the enucleated cell it is reprogrammed by its host egg cell. The oocyte now containing the somatic nucleus is shocked to stimulate cellular activity and cell division. This second “shock” jump starts the cell into development. The egg is then viable and capable of producing an adult organism containing all of the genetic information (geonome) from one parent, that of the somatic cell. In order to reproduce the clone embryo it is implanted into

One of the methodologies used in the process of genetic cloning is called somatic cell nuclear transfer. This method of genetic cloning involves a body (somatic) and an egg (enucleated oocyte) cell to create an embryo. An example of a successful case of genetic cloning with using this methodology is Dolly the Sheep. There are four main steps that are used in this method.

The cell grows into a normal egg and the egg grows into a normal baby that is then born (Tamang). The third way a clone can be created is the “Honolulu Technique.” It is the most recent and most effective technique. Donor nuclei are enucleated and inserted into egg cells. There is no vitro (fertilization of an egg in a laboratory dish or test tube) like nuclear transfer. The egg cells are placed in a chemical culture to jumpstart the cell’s growth, just like fertilization in nature. The cells develop into embryos which will be transplanted into a surrogate mother and born like a normal baby ("Three Ways…”).

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is currently being utilised for cloning of adult farm animals. This process involves the reprogramming of a somatic cell nucleus to preform in a set way for embryonic development to occur. The first stage of SCNT involves the collection of a somatic cell using cumulus, fibroblasts, ovarian/ granulosa, marry, muscle, oviduct or uterine cells (Davies et al, 2003). An oocytes arrested at metaphase II is used for the reprograming of the somatic cell as it comprises the necessary components for starting and instructing early embryonic development. After collection

“To get a cell from an adult mammal to behave like a cell from a developing embryo had long since been abandoned at major centers of scientific research” (Healy, 176). The doubt of others didn’t sway Wilmut’s ideas. He used a method called somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning in order to produce Dolly. This same technique has now been used for application of human stem cells to generate differentiated tissues (and this same technique could also be used to clone a human from an adult cell). Click on this animation on somatic cell nuclear transfer. Wilmut first took a nucleus from the mammary cells of a dead six-year-old Finn Dorset Sheep. He then substituted the nucleus for the nucleus of an egg from a different sheep- a Poll Dorset. Next, Wilmut implanted the egg into an ewe of a Scottish Blackface who became Dolly’s surrogate mother. Five months later, Dolly was born (Wills, 22). Wilmut used three different breeds of sheep so it would be apparent that Dolly’s genes did not come from her surrogate mother nor the egg donor, but from the six year old, Finn Dorset. In addition, in order to account for problems such as cells being in the wrong stage, or having the wrong set of genes turned on, or having cells that are too metabolically active, Wilmut starved the cells for several days. He then fused the starved cell with enucleated eggs. This made the DNA copying device in the cell to stop by “arresting the cell cycle and forcing the cells into