Mancini, V, McKeegan, PJ, Schrimpe‐Rutledge, AC et al. (5 more authors) (Cover date: November/December 2021) Probing morphological, genetic and metabolomic changes of in vitro embryo development in a microfluidic device. Biotechnology Progress, 37 (6). e3194. ISSN 8756-7938
Abstract
Assisted reproduction technologies for clinical and research purposes rely on a brief in vitro embryo culture which, despite decades of progress, remain suboptimal in comparison to the physiological environment. One promising tool to improve this technique is the development of bespoke microfluidic chambers. Here we present and validate a new microfluidic device in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) for the culture of early mouse embryos.
Device material and design resulted embryo compatible and elicit minimal stress. Blastocyst formation, hatching, attachment and outgrowth formation on fibronectin-coated devices were similar to traditional microdrop methods. Total blastocyst cell number and allocation to the trophectoderm and inner cell mass lineages were unaffected.
The devices were designed for culture of 10-12 embryos. Development rates, mitochondrial polarisation and metabolic turnover of key energy substrates glucose, pyruvate and lactate were consistent with groups of 10 embryos in microdrop controls. Increasing group size to 40 embryos per device was associated with increased variation in development rates and altered metabolism.
Device culture did not perturb blastocyst gene expression but did elicit changes in embryo metabolome, which can be ascribed to substrate leaching from PDMS and warrant further investigation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Authors. Biotechnology Progress published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Electronic & Electrical Engineering (Leeds) > Pollard Institute (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM) > Discovery & Translational Science Dept (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NC3Rs CRACKITEA-SP-3 EU - European Union 748903 MRC (Medical Research Council) MC_PC_17165 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 28 Jul 2021 14:54 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:43 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/btpr.3194 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:176371 |