Microfluidic Hanging Droplet as a Programmable Platform for Mammalian Egg Vitrification
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 e...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Royal Society of Chemistry
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/157523 |
| _version_ | 1824457966435172352 |
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| author | Feng, Haidong Katsikis, Georgios Napier, India Du, Gong Lim, Josh Doyle, Joseph Manalis, Scott R Griffith, Linda G |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering Feng, Haidong Katsikis, Georgios Napier, India Du, Gong Lim, Josh Doyle, Joseph Manalis, Scott R Griffith, Linda G |
| author_sort | Feng, Haidong |
| collection | MIT |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:18:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/157523 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:18:23Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Royal Society of Chemistry |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1575232024-12-23T05:33:08Z Microfluidic Hanging Droplet as a Programmable Platform for Mammalian Egg Vitrification Feng, Haidong Katsikis, Georgios Napier, India Du, Gong Lim, Josh Doyle, Joseph Manalis, Scott R Griffith, Linda G 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 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. 2024-11-08T21:26:47Z 2024-11-08T21:26:47Z 2024-10-30 2024-11-08T21:20:11Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/157523 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. en 10.1039/d4lc00428k Lab on a Chip Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ application/pdf Royal Society of Chemistry Royal Society of Chemistry |
| spellingShingle | Feng, Haidong Katsikis, Georgios Napier, India Du, Gong Lim, Josh Doyle, Joseph Manalis, Scott R Griffith, Linda G Microfluidic Hanging Droplet as a Programmable Platform for Mammalian Egg Vitrification |
| title | Microfluidic Hanging Droplet as a Programmable Platform for Mammalian Egg Vitrification |
| title_full | Microfluidic Hanging Droplet as a Programmable Platform for Mammalian Egg Vitrification |
| title_fullStr | Microfluidic Hanging Droplet as a Programmable Platform for Mammalian Egg Vitrification |
| title_full_unstemmed | Microfluidic Hanging Droplet as a Programmable Platform for Mammalian Egg Vitrification |
| title_short | Microfluidic Hanging Droplet as a Programmable Platform for Mammalian Egg Vitrification |
| title_sort | microfluidic hanging droplet as a programmable platform for mammalian egg vitrification |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/157523 |
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