Microfluidic Hanging Droplet as a Programmable Platform for Mammalian Egg Vitrification
Name
d4lc00428k.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.85 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
16150be897ea89865b2779cc8abd2a1c
Author(s)
Feng, Haidong
Katsikis, Georgios
Napier, India
Du, Gong
Lim, Josh
Doyle, Joseph
Manalis, Scott R
Griffith, Linda G
Date Issued
October 30, 2024
Journal
Lab on a Chip
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
Citation
Feng, Haidong, Katsikis, Georgios, Napier, India, Du, Gong, Lim, Josh et al. 2024. "Microfluidic Hanging Droplet as a Programmable Platform for Mammalian Egg Vitrification." Lab on a Chip.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Egg (oocyte) vitrification is the dominant method for preserving fertility for women of reproductive age. However, the method is typically performed by hand, requiring precise (∼0.1 to 10 μL) and time-sensitive (∼1 s) liquid exchange of cryoprotectants (CPA) around eggs as well as fine handling of eggs (∼100 μm) for immersion into liquid nitrogen (LN2). Here, we developed a microfluidic platform for programmable vitrification. Our platform is based on a millimeter-sized hanging droplet inside which a given egg is suspended and subjected to liquid exchanges within seconds. After programmable exposures to CPA, the egg is extracted from the liquid–air interface of the droplet using a motorized fine-tip instrument and immersed into LN2 for vitrification. To benchmark our platform with the manual method, we vitrified over a hundred mouse eggs and found comparable percentages (∼95%) for post-vitrification survivability. In addition, our platform performs real-time microscopy of the egg thereby enabling future studies where its morphology may be linked to functional outcomes. Our study contributes to the ongoing efforts to enhance the automation of embryology techniques towards broader applications in reproductive medicine both for clinical and research purposes.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Division of Comparative Medicine
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1039/d4lc00428k
