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Please look at the picture of the fertilized egg (zygote) on http://sharedjourney.com/articles/dev.html If you look carefully, you will see two circular structures that are slightly overlaping in the center of the egg. These are pronuclei. One pronucleus is from the sperm, the other is from the egg. Each pronucleus contains one half of the chromosomes it takes to make a human being. The pronuclei migrate towards each other and fuse, thus resulting in the nucleus of the one-celled embryo (zygote) having the full compliment of chromosomes.

Sometimes only one pronucleus develops. Following ICSI, this is usually a result of the sperm pronucleus failing to develop. Without both pronuclei (and therefore both sets of chomosomes), the embryo is genetically abnormal and cannot not be transferred back to the uterus.

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Thank you for your prompt answer to my query which has given me a good understanding of what went wrong with our remaining 3 embryos.

Are my husbands sperms making genetically abnormal embryo's because he has anti sperm antibodies as result of his vasectomy and subsequent failed reversal?

He takes a good multivitamin daily, and doesn't drink, or smoke. Is there anything else he can do to improve the overall quality of his sperm?
Many Thanks :)
Nat.

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