- Artificial insemination, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse.
- Following World War II the use of artificial insemination (AI) proved highly successful in improving dairy herds.
- In humans, Artificial insemination (AI) is used as assisted reproductive technology, primarily to treat infertility using sperm from the woman's partner, or sperm from a sperm donor (donor sperm) where the male partner produces no sperm.
- Artificial insemination is also increasingly used to enable women without a male partner (i.e., single women and lesbians) to produce children by using donor sperm.
- Artificial insemination (AI) is widely used for livestock breeding, especially for dairy cattle and pigs. Techniques developed for livestock have been adapted for use in humans.
- In humans, artificial insemination was originally developed as a means of helping couples to conceive where there were 'male factor' problems of a physical or psychological nature affecting the male partner which prevented or impeded conception.
- The man providing the sperm is usually advised not to ejaculate for two to three days before providing the sample in order to increase the sperm count.
- Timing is critical as the window and opportunity for fertilization, is little more than 12 hours from the release of the ovum.
- Advanced technical (medical) procedures may be used to increase the chances of conception.
- When performed at home without the presence of a professional this procedure is sometimes referred to as intravaginal insemination or IVI.
- To have optimal chances with IUI, the female should be under 30 years of age, and the man should have a TMS of more than 5 million per ml.
- Success rates, or pregnancy rates for artificial insemination may be very misleading, since many factors including the age and health of the recipient have to be included to give a meaningful answer.
- Artificial insemination is used in many non-human animals, including sheep, horses, cattle, pigs, pandas, dogs, pedigree animals generally, zoo animals, turkeys and even honeybees.
- Artificial insemination of farm animals is very common in today's agriculture industry in the developed world, especially for breeding dairy cattle (75% of all inseminations) and swine (up to 85% of all inseminations).
Facts about Artificial insemination (AI)
