andlt;strongandgt;IVF treatment.andlt;/strongandgt; Coloured light micrograph of amicro-needle (left) about to inject human sperminto a human egg cell (centre) being held in placeby a pipette (right). This technique, known asintracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), is usedin IVF (in vitro fertilisation) treatment andallows infertile couples to conceive a child. Theinjected sperm fertilises the egg, which is thengrown in the lab until it reaches an early stageof embryonic development. The embryo is thenimplanted into the patientandamp;apos;s uterus. Severalembryos are usually implanted to give the greatestchance of a successful pregnancy, but thiscan sometimes lead to multiple births. Image 1 of2: see M802/305 for image 2 of 2.
