Search

'This book is an integrated approach to the study of the basic events involved reproduction, and contains recent achievements described by most of the outstanding scientists of this field. General and basic patterns of oocyte maturation and fertilization are described in a modern context of integrated morphological and biochemical methods, up to the practical application of this knowledge. Because of their typical external fertilization, simple marine invertebrate models (sea urchin, ascidians, etc.) initially provided relevant and unique sources of information on reproductive biology. A major impetus for transferring and comparing this information in mammals coincided with the development of protocols that also allowed external fertilization in mammals, first in laboratory animals, and then in livestock and human. In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) technology represents a revolution in the general knowledge of reproductive biology, opening new doors that lead to biomedical applications.'--Page ii.