胚胎单个定位及三维共培养微流控装置的构建

Construction of a microfluidic device for single embryo positioning and co-cultures with three-dimensional cells

胚胎体外发育是临床人工辅助生殖技术中的关键环节,对着床后胚胎发育状况有重要作用。该研究利用细胞三维培养技术和微流控芯片技术构建了一种新型的小鼠胚胎体外共培养装置,用于实现自动化的小鼠胚胎定位与共培养操作,并对胚胎在体内的发育环境进行模拟。利用该微流控装置成功进行了小鼠胚胎的单个定位、三维细胞共培养以及发育追踪观察,并对装置中胚胎发育状况做出评价。统计结果表明:共培养芯片中小鼠胚胎发育囊胚率(87.3%±3.1%)显著高于对照组的囊胚率(76.8%±2.7%,P<0.01);并且共培养芯片中小鼠囊胚的平均细胞总数(102±4)也显著高于对照组中的平均细胞总数(68±3,P<0.01)。因此该胚胎共培养微流控芯片有助于在体外实现自动化的胚胎定位和培养过程,并且对小鼠胚胎发育具有更好的促进作用。

Embryo in vitro development is a critical procedure in clinical assisted reproductive procedures which significantly influences the post-implantation development.A microfluidic device was fabricated with a cell-ladened hydrogel for mouse embryo co-cultures. The microfluidic chip controls the single embryo positioning,the embryo co-culture with the three-dimensional（3D）cultured OECs,the development tracking and blastocysts retrieva.The outcoming blastocyst formation rate from the microfluidic device（87.3% ±3.1%）was significantly higher（P 0.01）than that from the control group（76.8% ± 2.7%）,with blastocyst cell numbers from the device（102±4）significantly larger（P 0.01）than from the control group（68±3）,which both show that the development was enhanced by the co-culture with 3D cells on the chip.