xiv. Mitochondrial Donation Treatment
Mitochondrial Donation Treatment (MDT) has been successfully used for the birth of a baby in the UK for the first time. Its also known as a three-parent baby, as the baby has three parents in terms of genetic material. Pioneering technology was used to facilitate this, to prevent the child from inheriting the mother’s mitochondrial disease.
- Mitochondrial Donation Treatment offers families with severe inherited mitochondrial illnesses do not pass on the gene to their children.
- It is a form of IVF that replaces faulty mitochondrial DNA in the patient’s eggs with healthy mitochondrial DNA from a donor egg.
- Most of the baby’s DNA comes from its parents, and just a little percentage comes from the donor, whose mitochondria were used to fertilize the egg.
- Although the phrase “three-parent babies” is widely used in the media, most of the baby’s DNA comes from its two parents, with around 0.1% from the donor.
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Mitochondrial Donation Treatment |
With the use of assisted reproductive technologies, some women may be able to prevent passing on mitochondrial illness to their biological offspring. It is also known as mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT). The phrase describes a variety of methods used to guarantee that only healthy mitochondria are transferred to an embryo. Two techniques for mitochondrial donation have been developed and widely used:
In both techniques, eggs or embryos are created using nuclear genetic material and healthy donated mitochondria.
In both MST and PNT, the resulting embryos would contain the biological parents’ genetic material and only the mitochondrial DNA of the donor. Both techniques work equally well. |
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What are mitochondria? |
Mitochondria are double-membraned cell organelles present in nucleated mammalian cells in large numbers.
The mitochondria have their genetic material, and its number is 2-10 copies of DNA per mitochondria.
Mutations in mitochondrial DNA can result in serious disorders which are quite severe and life-threatening. Some common mitochondrial diseases are-
Mitochondrial disease affects around one in 6000 babies. It is not a single disorder but an umbrella term for dozens of disorders in which the mitochondria are not able to produce energy for cells to work properly. These conditions vary in severity, are often life-limiting, and currently have no cure. |
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Advantages and Concerns of Mitochondrial Donation Treatment |
The major advantage is obvious as MDT will give families affected by serious mitochondrial disease a chance of having healthy children free of a devastating and often life-limiting disease.
As beneficial as this technique may be, it comes with a fair share of concerns as well.
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Conclusion |
However, further study is still required and subject to evaluation to fully understand the long-term impacts of this procedure. Furthermore, these methods undoubtedly help families whose future children, who will suffer significantly and may not survive through early childhood owing to mitochondrial illnesses, have a limited chance of living a quality life. |
[Mitochondrial Donation Treatment]