Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy Essay
Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy
There are many differing opinions concerning mitochondrial replacement therapy in the United States. Such as the child might have a negative perception of themselves, The child may feel disconnected from their mother, and they may have issues with their ancestry. Another opinion is the procedure needs to be further tested to ensure MRT’s validity.
There are a couple of diseases associated with the mutation in the mitochondria; LHON disease and Leigh’s disease. I will be focusing on Leigh’s disease through the remainder of this essay. Leigh’s disease symptoms may begin during infancy; between three months and two years of age. There are cases in which it’s been seen in teenagers and adults but that is due to a deficiency in an enzyme called pyruvate dehydrogenase and is not apart of this research.
Leigh’s disease …show more content…
symptoms progress very rapidly and can begin with poor suckling and lack of head control, motor skills, loss of appetite, vomiting, irritability, continuous crying, and seizures As the disorder progresses it leads to lack of muscle tone, overall weakness, and impairment of respiratory and kidney function. Leigh’s disease affects the cells in the brain that is involved in motor movement. The mutation in the DNA affects the ATP in the cells. ATP is a main source of energy for the cell resulting in a chronic loss of energy for the cells affected by this mutation.
The prognosis for a person who lacks mitochondrial activity is very bleak, those individuals are expected to live only a few years. While people having partial mitochondrial activity are expected to live to be six or seven years old. There aren’t any cures for this disease and the treatment is only there to make the pain of the disease more comfortable for the patient. There was a two year old boy named Will. This little boy was diagnosed with Leigh’s disease, a very rare genetic disorder passed down from his mother. Will's parents were told that he most likely wouldn’t make it past seven and that soon his cells would die and his body would shut down. If MRT was allowed in the United States this little boy’s mother would have had the option to get this procedure done and possibly save her son’s life.
My stance on this controversial matter is that mitochondrial replacement therapy should be legal in the United States. It seems selfish to put your child in harms way just for the satisfaction of pregnancy if you had the choice of an MRT procedure. It should be a choice a woman is allowed to make about her child especially if the end result would be premature death.
There are three types of mitochondrial replacement therapies; The most common one is maternal spindle procedure. The maternal spinal procedure only hurts the ova and not the embryo so it is the least controversial out of all three procedures. This procedure is done by taking the nuclei from both the mother and the donor eggs. The mother’s egg then gets the nucleus from the donor egg, now the diseased Nuclear DNA won’t affect the mother’s egg. Next the mother’s egg will be fertilized by the father’s sperm and then the fertilized egg will be implanted into the mother.
The next procedure is pronuclear transfer, both eggs from the donor and the mother will be fertilized by the father's sperm.
Then the nuclei are taken from both embryos and the healthy embryo nucleus will be put into the embryo from the mother.
The last Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy is embryo cell nuclear transfer and similar to pronuclear transfer. The difference is that one embryo will be created using the father’s sperm instead of two. Next, the nucleus is taken out of the embryo and put into the donor egg and is fertilized and implanted.
Just as I have stated earlier in my essay I feel mitochondrial replacement therapy should be legal in the United States. Every child should have the opportunity to live a long and happy life. The emotional damage that is being associated with MRT for the child is miniscule compared to the overwhelming pain parents would have to face when burying their child. We are a country that prides ourselves in our scientific advances, this would be something that has the potential to be extremely helpful to many Northern American families if the FDA chooses to approve
it.
There are many differing opinions concerning mitochondrial replacement therapy in the United States. Such as the child might have a negative perception of themselves, The child may feel disconnected from their mother, and they may have issues with their ancestry. Another opinion is the procedure needs to be further tested to ensure MRT’s validity.
There are a couple of diseases associated with the mutation in the mitochondria; LHON disease and Leigh’s disease. I will be focusing on Leigh’s disease through the remainder of this essay. Leigh’s disease symptoms may begin during infancy; between three months and two years of age. There are cases in which it’s been seen in teenagers and adults but that is due to a deficiency in an enzyme called pyruvate dehydrogenase and is not apart of this research.
Leigh’s disease …show more content…
symptoms progress very rapidly and can begin with poor suckling and lack of head control, motor skills, loss of appetite, vomiting, irritability, continuous crying, and seizures As the disorder progresses it leads to lack of muscle tone, overall weakness, and impairment of respiratory and kidney function. Leigh’s disease affects the cells in the brain that is involved in motor movement. The mutation in the DNA affects the ATP in the cells. ATP is a main source of energy for the cell resulting in a chronic loss of energy for the cells affected by this mutation.
The prognosis for a person who lacks mitochondrial activity is very bleak, those individuals are expected to live only a few years. While people having partial mitochondrial activity are expected to live to be six or seven years old. There aren’t any cures for this disease and the treatment is only there to make the pain of the disease more comfortable for the patient. There was a two year old boy named Will. This little boy was diagnosed with Leigh’s disease, a very rare genetic disorder passed down from his mother. Will's parents were told that he most likely wouldn’t make it past seven and that soon his cells would die and his body would shut down. If MRT was allowed in the United States this little boy’s mother would have had the option to get this procedure done and possibly save her son’s life.
My stance on this controversial matter is that mitochondrial replacement therapy should be legal in the United States. It seems selfish to put your child in harms way just for the satisfaction of pregnancy if you had the choice of an MRT procedure. It should be a choice a woman is allowed to make about her child especially if the end result would be premature death.
There are three types of mitochondrial replacement therapies; The most common one is maternal spindle procedure. The maternal spinal procedure only hurts the ova and not the embryo so it is the least controversial out of all three procedures. This procedure is done by taking the nuclei from both the mother and the donor eggs. The mother’s egg then gets the nucleus from the donor egg, now the diseased Nuclear DNA won’t affect the mother’s egg. Next the mother’s egg will be fertilized by the father’s sperm and then the fertilized egg will be implanted into the mother.
The next procedure is pronuclear transfer, both eggs from the donor and the mother will be fertilized by the father's sperm.
Then the nuclei are taken from both embryos and the healthy embryo nucleus will be put into the embryo from the mother.
The last Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy is embryo cell nuclear transfer and similar to pronuclear transfer. The difference is that one embryo will be created using the father’s sperm instead of two. Next, the nucleus is taken out of the embryo and put into the donor egg and is fertilized and implanted.
Just as I have stated earlier in my essay I feel mitochondrial replacement therapy should be legal in the United States. Every child should have the opportunity to live a long and happy life. The emotional damage that is being associated with MRT for the child is miniscule compared to the overwhelming pain parents would have to face when burying their child. We are a country that prides ourselves in our scientific advances, this would be something that has the potential to be extremely helpful to many Northern American families if the FDA chooses to approve
it.