Embryo formation from low sperm concentration by using dielectrophoretic force |
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| Authors: | Hong-Yuan Huang Yu-Hsuan Huang Wei-Lun Kao Da-Jeng Yao |
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| Institution: | 1.Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan;2.Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chang Gung University and College of Medicine, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan;3.Institute of NanoEngineering and MicroSystems, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan;4.Institute of Power Mechanical and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan |
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| Abstract: | A biochip system imitates the oviduct of mammals with a microfluidic channel to achieve fertilization in vitro of imprinting-control-region (ICR) mice. We apply a method to manipulate and to position the oocyte and the sperm of ICR mice at the same time in our microfluidic channel with a positive dielectrophoretic (DEP) force. The positive dielectrophoretic response of the oocyte and sperm was exhibited under applied bias conditions AC 10 Vpp waveform, 1 MHz, 10 min. With this method, the concentration of sperm in the vicinity of the oocyte was increased and enhanced the probability of natural fertilization. We used commercial numerical software (CFDRC-ACE+) to simulate the square of the electric field and analyzed the location at which the oocyte and sperm are trapped. The microfluidic devices were designed and fabricated with poly(dimethylsiloxane). The results of our experiments indicate that a positive DEP served to drive the position of the oocyte and the sperm to natural fertilization (average rate of fertilization 51.58%) in our microchannel structures at insemination concentration 1.5 × 106 sperm ml−1. Embryos were cultured to two cells after 24 h and four cells after 48 h. |
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