In vitro is a Latin term that is still commonly used in the English language. We will examine the meaning of the term in vitro, where it came from, how it is used and some examples of that use in sentences.
In vitro refers to a process that takes place outside a living organism in a Petri dish, test tube or other piece of equipment. The term in vitro is nearly always used by the general public when referring to in vitro fertilization, or IVF, which is a reproductive technology. During an in vitro fertilization procedure, sperm and ova are harvested from the donors and brought together in a laboratory to achieve fertilization. The embryos are then implanted in the uterus of the female in order to gestate. Fertility drugs may or may not be used in this process in order to help the couple to conceive. This fertility treatment is expensive and complicated, but many couples have used in vitro fertilization successfully. In vitro fertilization may often result in the birth of twins or triplets. The Latin term in vitro literally means in glass, and is a term that was first used in the late 1800s to describe biological procedures and experiments performed in the laboratory in test tubes and flasks.
Examples
Another View: Removing harmful genes in vitro presents critical frontier (The Press Herald)
For the study, researchers examined data on 211 women who went to a fertility clinic in Massachusetts to be evaluated for in vitro fertilization. (The Business INsider)
And the strategy does seem to work – antibodies are recruited to C. albicans cells, and neutrophils then clear them in vitro. (Science Magazine)