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I was just reading about how prenatal screening can eradicate genetic disease (and reported it too) when I read another article that casts doubt on the entire procedure of pre-implantation genetic diasnosis (PGD).
Used with in vitro fertilization, PGD is a biopsy of the developing embryos to look for signs of abnormalities. Obviously, only normal embryos are then implanted into a woman’s uterus to ensure that no abnormality will be present in the child.
However, new studies on mice suggested that PGD can affect fetal, neonatal and adult development. The scientists found that biopsied embryos implanted after PGD result in lesser number of births. Adult mice that have been biopsied as embryos also showed neurodegenerative disorders disorders like Alzheimers and Down Syndrome, according to the research published in Molecular and Cellular Proteomics.
Take note that this study was done in mice, so humans may react entirely better than them. But it still gives one pause.
