How to retrieve eggs for artificial insemination? How to retrieve sperm for artificial insemination?

Artificial insemination is a method of preparing for pregnancy by placing a man's sperm into a woman's reproductive organs through external means. So how do men who need artificial insemination generally obtain sperm? And how do women obtain eggs? Let's learn about it together~

1. IVF registration and physical examination

Reproductive centers in our country are only allowed to freeze eggs for women who are undergoing in vitro fertilization. If there are extra eggs and both husband and wife agree, they can also be donated. Relevant physical examinations are required before freezing eggs.

2. Take ovulation injection to retrieve eggs

If you want to retrieve eggs, you must first give women an injection to promote follicle maturation after gonadotropin promotes egg development. About 36 hours later, the doctor will penetrate the ovary through the vagina under the guidance of B-ultrasound and suck out the follicular fluid of the follicle. Through B-ultrasound, you can see that a group of transparent crystal-like substances are follicles, and mature eggs are nurtured in the follicles. The egg retrieval operation usually does not exceed 10 minutes.

3. Follicular fluid is sent to the laboratory

The doctor sucked the follicular fluid out into a test tube and quickly passed it through a window to a microscope in the laboratory. The entire egg freezing process is performed in the laboratory. Eggs are very delicate and are afraid of light, cold, and heat, so the entire egg retrieval process must be completed quickly in a dark environment.

4. Extraction of oocytes

The egg cells are suspended in the follicular fluid. Laboratory technicians will first separate the egg cells from the follicular fluid under a microscope.

5. Egg dehydration

Laboratory staff dehydrate the eggs by placing them in a highly concentrated dehydrated cryoprotectant solution.

6. Quickly put it into a special container with liquid nitrogen

The dehydrated eggs are immediately placed in liquid nitrogen, a process called vitrification.

7. Put it in liquid nitrogen tank

The eggs are transferred to a liquid nitrogen tank at minus 198 degrees Celsius for long-term storage. Each egg has a corresponding number for future use.

8. Rewarm during use

After some time, when the woman needs to use the eggs, professional technicians take the eggs out of the liquid nitrogen, rewarm them, and use a solution to remove the chemicals used in the eggs. The surviving eggs are fertilized in vitro with the man's sperm to cultivate embryos. After about 3-5 days, the healthiest embryos are selected and transplanted into the woman's uterus.

Egg retrieval is performed under semi-anesthesia, and the entire egg retrieval time is usually about 8-16 minutes. During the whole process, the egg donor volunteers will not feel much pain depending on each person's body shape. After the retrieval, they will feel a little bloated in the abdomen.

Since 1978, egg retrieval technology has greatly improved since laparoscopic egg retrieval, from transcutaneous bladder and transurethral bladder under abdominal ultrasound guidance to modern transvaginal ultrasound egg retrieval. This relatively simple and safe method improves the efficiency of egg retrieval, can be performed under local anesthesia, and can be combined with various assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

These advances have been made possible by the continuous improvement of ultrasound technology. Small vaginal ultrasound probes are now available, such as 5MHz or 7.5MHz vaginal probes, with high resolution and relatively comfortable for patients to use. High resolution helps to accurately identify and locate follicles. By simply rotating the probe, the shape of the follicle is determined in a two-dimensional image, and the hypoechoic follicles are distinguished from the equally hypoechoic pelvic vessels, so that each follicle can be accurately aspirated, greatly improving the egg retrieval rate and reducing the discomfort of women.

1. Masturbation to obtain semen.

When extracting sperm through masturbation, the entire process should be carried out in a sterile state to avoid contact with bacteria. The inner mouth of the semen collection cup should also be sterile and non-toxic to ensure the integrity of the semen collection.

2. Puncture to obtain sperm.

Some male patients have difficulty in sperm collection or some patients with azoospermia need to undergo sperm puncture. After local anesthesia, the sperm is taken out with a syringe filled with culture medium, and the testicular tissue sucked out is immediately checked for sperm status.

3. If there is no sperm after sperm puncture, the couple must agree to obtain sperm from the sperm donor from the sperm bank.

Precautions for men before sperm collection during artificial insemination: It is best to quit smoking and drinking and maintain a regular work and rest schedule 2-3 months before the treatment cycle; before artificial insemination, men usually need to abstain from sex for three to five days, and the genitals should be cleaned before sperm collection.