A new technique to effectively grow and screen embryos has been developed by a team of researchers from Taiwan.
As a result, the costly procedure of IVF could become more accessible
and less time consuming since the embryos with the best chance for
successful implantation would be selected.
"It will lower the stress level of patients greatly if the number of
IVF cycles and embryos transferred can be reduced while maintaining a
promising outcome," says lead author Chihchen Chen. "We are interested
in understanding the essential needs of a developing embryo and aiming
to improve embryo culture."
The current procedure involves pooling the embryos together in droplets
of fluid before transferring them into the uterus, making individual
screening problematic.
Yet with the Taiwanese device, each embryo gets its own nook.
A plate of open microwells into which the embryos could be spread would
allow for individual screening and accessibility by means of a
micropipette, according to the paper describing the new device.
"Embryos are very sensitive to their environments," says Chen.
"Understanding the microenvironment of embryos allows us to promote the
growth and minimize the epigenetic manipulation of embryos."
Working with mouse embryos, the team used high-resolution time-lapse
imaging to track how they fared in the new device and saw them develop
successfully into blastocysts, the ball of numerous cells that occurs
after fertilization.
The quality of the embryos was assessed based on the length of time
they took to divide into four and eight cells, for it turned out to be
an accurate indicator of whether they would move into the blastocyst
stage successfully or not.
This makes for a simple way to screen and select the embryos that
appear the most promising, according to the study, and the targeted
approach could reduce the number of eggs necessary to create one baby.
Chen says the next step is to optimize the experimental conditions for
human embryos and validate the technology for clinical trials.
The researchers' paper was published in the journal Biomicrofluidics.
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