The "Zinc" Spark of Life

The “Zinc” Spark of Life

Life, like the universe, begins with light. While this may sound more poetic than scientific, a new study has found that a burst of light is visible when a sperm fertilizes an egg. Even more, when that burst of light is significantly larger than other surrounding fertilized eggs, the healthier the newly created embryo. It’s a fascinating discovery, and one that is specifically significant to the field of IVF and reproductive medicine. If doctors can now determine the healthiest embryos according to how much light they produce when formed, they can choose the most viable embryos for transfer in IVF procedures. This increases IVF success by 50%. The study was published in Scientific Reports and the study’s authors explain that the light is created by high levels of zinc. As Teresa Woodruff, an expert in ovarian biology explains, “If you can look at the zinc spark at the time of fertilization, you will know immediately which eggs are the good ones to transfer in IVF.”

You can watch an explanatory video here:

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