A test tube baby is a baby conceived outside the female body. In effect it is a baby conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF), where the egg is fertilized outside the body, in a laboratory dish, and then implanted in a woman’s uterus.
Test tube baby process is a technique concerned to a woman who is not able to conceive to give birth to a normal baby. The term was originally used to refer to the babies born from the earliest applications of artificial insemination and has now been expanded to refer to children born through the use of in vitro fertilization, the practice of fertilizing an egg outside of a woman’s body. A test tube baby is a human embryo that was conceived outside the body of a woman.
Test tube babies have been around since 1978, when the first successful fertilization took place in a laboratory. The term ‘test tube’ refers to ‘in-vitro’ or ‘in glass’ where fertilization of eggs by sperms is carried out. This technology is called in-vitro fertilization (IVF) technology. A test-tube baby is the product of a successful human reproduction that results from methods beyond sexual intercourse between a man and a woman and instead utilizes medical intervention that manipulates both the egg and sperm cells for successful fertilization
IVF technology was pioneered in humans by Prof. Robert Winston. Since then, more than 25,000 babies have been produced so far.
IVF technology involves:
Taking out the eggs from the ovaries of females.
Culture of eggs in vitro in an incubator for maturation.
Fertilization of eggs in test tubes by sperm (in semen) obtained from male.
