The History of Reproductive Biology
For centuries.. men of medicine thought a sperm cell contained a "little man" (homunculus) that was placed inside a woman for growth into a child. This seemed to them to neatly explain many of the mysteries of conception.
This concept of course was flawed for many reasons and An accurate understanding of the principles of heredity began with the research of Austrian monk and botanist Gregor Mendel in 1865, considered the father of genetics. His experiments with garden peas established the existence of the paired hereditary units he called genes. His findings were relevant to plants, animals and humans alike. Mendel's work coupled with the theories of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) formed the basis of genetics research during the twentieth century; however, Mendel's laws went unnoticed until they were rediscovered in 1901
One of the earliest methods of human intervention in animal reproduction was artificial insemination.
The Arabs practiced it as early as the 1320s. In 1420, French monk Dom Pinchon attempted the artificial fertilization of fish eggs, and in 1780, Italian physiologist Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799) experimented with artificial insemination to obtain puppies. English biologist Robert Bakewell (1725-1795), the founder of the science of animal breeding, developed several new breeds of livestock in the late 1700s.
Only within the last two hundred years has science developed an understanding of the hereditary process. The result of this new knowledge has been the direct involvement, especially in the last twenty years, with gene structures, the mechanics of heredity.
The discovery in 1953 of deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) by American biologist James D. Watson (1928-) and English biologist Francis Clark has led to the new field of genetic engineering. DNA, the "stuff of life," is the spiral-ladder-shaped structure within every living cell that determines the genetic makeup of every individual.
The History of IVF -The Milestones
The history of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer (ET) dates back as early as the 1890s when Walter Heape a professor and physician at the University of Cambridge, England, who had been conducting research on reproduction in a number of animal species, reported the first known case of embryo transplantation in rabbits, long before the applications to human fertility were even suggested.
In 1932, ‘Brave New World’ was published by Aldous Huxley. In this science fiction novel, Huxley realistically described the technique of IVF as we know it.
1961
Palmer from France described the first retrieval of oocytes by laparoscopy.
1965
In 1965, Robert Edwards together with Georgeanna and Howard in the USA attempted to fertilize human oocytes in vitro (Edwards et al 1966, Am J Obstet Gynecol 96, 192).
1970’s Breakthrough!
1973
The first IVF pregnancy -by the team of Professors Carl Wood and John Leeton in Australia. Unfortunately, this resulted in early miscarriage (deKretzer et al, 1973, Lancet 2, 728).
1976
Y. Menezo developed the world's first B2 culture medium, This specific medium reflected the follicular, tubal and uterine environments of the sheep, rabbits and humans.
1976
Steptoe and Edwards reported on an ectopic pregnancy following transfer of a human embryo at the late morulae /early blastocyst stage.
1978
The first ever IVF birth occurred in Oldham, England on July 25, 1978 -Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards (Steptoe and Edwards 1978, Lancet 312, 366).
1979
Pez et al, began tracking the growth of follicles by ultrasound (Pez et al., 1979, 17° soirée gynéco-obstricale de St Maurice le 9.10.79).
The golden years 1980’s
1980
The first IVF birth in Australia (Lopata et al. 1980 Fertil Steril 33,117)
1981
Howard and Georgianna Seegar Jones announced the delivery of the first IVF baby in the United States. This first IVF birth in the USA was achieved with the use of hMG .
Introduction of Clomiphene Citrate and hMG in the IVF treatment protocol (Trounson et al, 1981, Science 212, 681) .
The Clamart group in France developed an LH assay allowing accurate prediction of the ideal time for the retrieval of oocytes (Testart et al., 1981, Fertil Steril 36, 50).
1983
First pregnancy after oocyte donation. (Trounson et al, 1983, Br Med J 286:835)
First successful delivery following egg donation. (Buster et al. 1983 Lancet 2:223).
Gleicher and his group reported the first vaginal egg retrieval using an abdominal ultrasound (Gleicher et al.1983, Lancet ;2:508)
1984
First IVF Law. The Government of Victoria established the Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act 1984, the first legislation to regulate IVF and its associated human embryo research.
First surrogacy embryo transfer baby born in California
Introduction of GnRH agonists to the IVF treatment protocol (Porter et al, 1984, Lancet 2:1284)
A report of pregnancy following transfer of intact frozen-thawed embryos (Zeilmaker et al. 1984, Fertil Steril 42:293)
Casper and his colleagues were the first to described the use of low dose hCG for support of the luteal phase in ART cycles. (Casper et al, 1983, lancet 2:1191)
1985
Human pregnancy by in vitro fertilization (IVF) using sperm aspirated from the epididymis. (Temple-Smith 1985 J In Vitro Fert Embryo Transf 2: 119)
First report of the use of abdominal ultrasound guidance for embryo transfer. (Strickler et al. 1985 Fertil Steril 43:54)
The first reported birth after replacement of hatching blastocyst cryopreserved at expanded blastocyst stage (Cohen et al, 1985, Lancet 1(8429):647)
In 1985 Quinn and Warnes published a formula entitled Human Tubal Fluid (HTF) which mimics the in vivo environment to which the embryo is exposed (Quinn P, Kerin JF, Warnes GM. 1985; Fertil Steril. 1985 :493).
1986
Monash IVF report on the world’s first pregnancy and birth from the sperm retrieval operation performed on a patient who had a blocked sperm duct.
First description of Transvaginal sector scan sonography for needle guided transvaginal follicle aspiration (Fiechtinger and Kemeter 1986, Fertil Steril 45:722)
First pregnancy, following IVF donated oocytes, in a non-ovarian failure patient. (Rosenwaks et al, 1986, Fertil Steril 45:417)
First report on pregnancy after translaparoscopic zygote intrafallopian transfer (Devroey et al. 1986, Lancet 1(8493):1329)
1987
Fertilization of human oocytes by microinjection of a single sperm under the zona pellucida (LawsKing et al, 1987 Fertil Steril 48, 637)
1988
Embryo biopsy technique was developed in mice by Professor Alan Trounson and Leeanda Wilton.
The first baby birth using sub-zonal sperm injection at National University of Singapore (Ng et al, 1988, Lancet 2, 790)
Pregnancy was obtained from micromanipulation using zona drilling or mechanical partial zona dissection (Cohen et al. 1988 Lancet 2(8603):162)
1989
First report on biopsy of human pre-implantation embryos and sexing by DNA amplification. (Handyside et al. 1989 Lancet 1:347)
First report of the use of laser techniques in the field of assisted reproduction for application in gametes or embryos (Tadir et al 1989, Fertil Steril 52: 870)
1990’s genetic age
1990
The first successful human cleavage-stage embryo vitrification followed by a successful delivery (Gordts et al., 1990, Fertil Steril 53, 469).
Pregnancies from biopsied human preimplantation embryos sexed by Y-specific DNA amplification. (Handyside et al. 1990, Nature 344:768)
First report of assisted hatching in human embryos. (Cohen et al. 1990, Human Reprod 5:7)
1991
In Vitro Maturation (IVM) in unstimulated cycle resulted in pregnancy in a donor oocyte program (Cha et al 1991, Fertil Steril 55:109)
The first report on the use of a laser for Zona Pelucida drilling (Palanker et al. 1991, Laser Surg Med 11: 589)
1992
Successful in-vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer after treatment with recombinant human FSH. (Germond et al. 1992, Lancet. 9;339(8802):1170)(Devroey et al. 1992, Lancet. 9;339(8802):1170)
Report of the first pregnancy after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) by the group in Brussels (Palermo et al. 1992, Lancet, 2, 17)
Pregnancy after embryo biopsy and coamplification of DNA from X and Y chromosomes. (Gilbert et al, 1992 JAMA 268:727)
1993
First report on the use of TESE, testicular sperm extraction and ICSI (Silber et al. Hum Reprod 1994)
1994
The first live birth as a result of IVM following transvaginal ultrasound–guided oocyte collection. (Trounson et al 1994, Fertil Steril 62;353)
The first reported birth resulting a frozen-thawed oocyte and ICSI (Chen 1986, Lancet 1:884)
1995
Pregnancies after Testicular Sperm Extraction (TESE) and ICSI in non-obstructive azoospermia. (Devroey et al. 1995 Hum Reprod 10:1457)
1996
Discovery that some men with severe oligoasthenospermia have deletions in the Y-chromosome (Rejio et al, 1996 Lancet 347(9011): 1290)
First report on Cytoplasmic transfer (Cohen et al. 1996, Lancet; 350:186)
1998
First establish pregnancy using recombinant FSH and GnRH antagonist (Itskovitz-Eldor et al 1998, Hum Reprod. 13:294)
Gardner introduced sequential media and blastocyst transfer which is now greatly assisting in the move to single embryo transfer.(Gardner et al., 1998 Human Reproduction, 13: 3434)
1999
First unaffected pregnancy using preimplantation genetic diagnosis for sickle cell anemia. (Xu et al. 1999, JAMA 281: 1701)
Birth following vitrification of human oocyte (Kuleshova et al. 1999, Hum Reprod 14:3077)
2000’s Patient friendly care
2000
Oktay and Karlikaya were the first to report on ovarian tissue transplant after frozen storage. (Oktay and Karlikaya 2000, NEJM 342:1919)
2001
First report using ultrasound for embryo transfer (Kojima et al. 2001, Hum Reprod 16:2578)
Birth of an infant from cryopreserved embryos (zygotes) produced by IVM oocytes derived from an unstimulated patient with PCOS (Chian et al., 2001 Hum. Reprod. 16, 1700).
2002
First live birth following blastocyst biopsy and PGD analysis. (De Boer et al. 2002, Reprod Biomed Online 4:35)
2003
Live births after vitrification of oocytes in a stimulated in vitro fertilization–embryo transfer program (Yoon et al, 2003 Fertil Steril 79:1323)
2004
Successful pregnancy and delivery following combined treatment of In Vitro Maturation (IVM) and Testicular Sperm Extraction (TESE). (Fuchinoue et al. 2004, J of Assisted Reprod Genetics 21:371)
Jaques Donnez reporting about the first Livebirth after orthotopic transplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue (Donnez et al, 2004, Lancet 364(9443) :1405)
Gardner and colleagues performed the world’s first prospective single blastocyst trial, which showed the feasibility of SBT and in keeping high pregnancy rates (Gardner et al., 2004 Fertil Steril 81: 551)
2005
Pregnancies and live births after trophectoderm biopsy and preimplantation genetic testing of human blastocysts. (McArthur et al Fertil Steril 84:1628) -
2006
Cryopreservation of intact human ovary with its vascular pedicle. (Bedaiwy et al. 2006, Hum Reprod 21:3258)
First successful pregnancy after preimplantation genetic diagnosis for aneuploidy screening in embryos generated from natural-cycle IVF combined with IVM achieved at the McGill Reproductive Centre (Ao et al. 2006, Fertil Steril; 85:1510)
2007
Introducing the concept of Mild Treatment Strategy for IVF (Heijnen et al, 2007 Lancet 369(9563):743)
