Journal
ELECTROPHORESIS
Volume 30, Issue 18, Pages 3276-3282Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/elps.200900157
Keywords
Bovine embryos; In vitro cultivation; Mechanical stimulation; Microfluidics; Peristaltic constriction
Funding
- National Research Laboratory (NRL) [ROA-2008-000-20109-0]
- Korea government (MEST) [2006-04088]
- Korea government (MKE) [10017755]
- Korea Institute of Industrial Technology(KITECH) [10017755] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
- National Research Foundation of Korea [2008-0060165, 2006-2004088, 2006-04088] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
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This work demonstrates a novel microfluidic in vitro cultivation system for embryos that improves their development using a partially constricted channel that mimics peristaltic muscle contraction. Conventional photolithography and a PDMS replica molding process were used to make straight or constricted microchannels. To investigate the effects of constriction geometry on embryonic development, different constriction widths of the channel were designed. Bovine embryos were loaded and incubated by simply placing them on a tilting machine to provide embryo movement via gravity. The fertilized embryos were cultivated on the microfluidic in vitro cultivation system until the blastocyst, hatching, or hatched blastocyst stages. To confirm the quality of blastocysts in the microfluidic channel, double staining was performed and compared with bovine embryos cultivated by the conventional droplet method. The proportion of eight-cell development among total embryos in the constricted channel (56.7 +/- 13.7%; mean +/- SD) was superior to that in the straight channel (23.9 +/- 11.0%). This suggests that the effect of constriction is vital for the early development of bovine embryos in assisted-reproduction research.
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