The development of higher mental functions of children born with intracytoplasmic sperm injection, compared with in vitro fertilization

The article examines various aspects related to the developmental characteristics of children conceived with the help of assisted reproductive technologies. Particular attention is paid to the heterochronicity of maturation of morphofunctional parts of the brain of children and the evolution of higher mental functions. The subject of the study was to consider the features of cognitive development of children conceived with different assisted reproductive technologies. The aim of the research was to study the development of higher mental functions in children aged 3 to 8 years conceived with the help of two commonly used artificial insemination procedures IVF and ICSI in comparison with the control group (spontaneously conceived peers). The research method was the analysis of the anamnestic data of the child's development, collection of detailed information on the procedures performed during the planning and implementation of the artificial insemination protocol. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the obtained results of the experimental analysis, which revealed that the risk of neurocognitive deficit of children conceived using the ICSI method is lower than in their peers conceived using IVF. An important aspect of the study was also the method of embryo transfer - cryoprotocol or natural cycle. When conducting cryotransfer of an embryo, regardless of the method of artificial insemination used, the indicators of development of mental activity coincide with similar indicators of children conceived naturally. The results of the study show the links between the mental development of children and the use of various reproductive technologies (RT) for conception. An indirect link is observed between the method of reproductive technology used and the mental development of the child, which requires further longitudinal studies in this area.