infocus #25 March 2012 Magnifying Human Fertility

DOI: 10.22443/rms.inf.1.79

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) has undergone rapid expansion over recent years due to the use of pioneering clinical techniques such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Microscopy represents an essential requirement for such techniques, allowing gametes and embryos to be visualised in sufficient detail, permitting the assessment of key clinical parameters and micromanipulation without compromising viability. Historically, microscopy has been essential to our understanding of the roles of sperm and oocytes before, during, and subsequent to gamete fusion. Indeed, microscopy continues to play a key role in furthering our
understanding of the complex and intricate mechanisms which underlie sexual reproduction. Herein, we discuss the essential nature of microscopy, and its associated skills, within the many parameters of ART, as well as its continued fundamental role in research within reproductive sciences.