GESTATIONAL CARRIER - A REPRODUCTIVE HAVEN FOR OFFSPRING OF MOTHERS WITH PHENYLKETONURIA (PKU) - AN ALTERNATIVE THERAPY FOR MATERNAL PKU

Maternal phenylketonuria, PKU, has a detrimental effect on embryogenes is. Infant pathology is independent of fetal genotype, but is directly correlated with excessive phenylalaninaemia throughout pregnancy. Alt hough normal children have been delivered by affected mothers who eith er had benign hyperphenylalaninaemia or in whom strict diet has appare ntly maintained maternal phenylalaninaemia in the low normal range fro m before conception, more abnormal than normal births have been report ed. In addition, attempts at dietary management are often unsuccessful ; most reported cases documented various severe pathological consequen ces of maternal PKU. Currently available methods provide viable altern ative treatment. In vitro fertilization using the parental gametes, fo llowed by implantation of the pre-embryo in a surrogate mother, would avoid a metabolic environment impairing normal development, and theref ore should be recommended as alternative therapy for potential mothers with PKU.