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Microfluidic Devices for Gamete Processing and Analysis, Fertilization and Embryo Culture and Characterization

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Applications of Microfluidic Systems in Biology and Medicine

Part of the book series: Bioanalysis ((BIOANALYSIS,volume 7))

Abstract

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) include all techniques used to achieve pregnancies not only in case of human infertility, but also for the in vitro production of embryos in the livestock industry, and for the conservation of endangered species. Focusing on human ART only, the total number of babies born worldwide has been estimated to more than 7 million, and ART are more and more utilized as a consequence of an increase in human infertility. However, at the same time, even if ART are now used as routine clinical treatments, the success rate remains low, with less than 30% clinical pregnancies. Furthermore, the ART pregnancy rates are now stagnating, showing a need for new improvements. Finally, current protocols are lacking standardization and automation, and they are still dependent on the skills of highly trained personnel. In that context, microfluidics can offer a new paradigm in the ART field, by providing integrated and automated platforms. Furthermore, the use of microfluidics can introduce new approaches by performing some steps of the entire protocol. In this chapter, we summarize and discuss microfluidic developments in the field of ART, and specifically devices for gamete analysis, selection and processing, fertilization and embryo culture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Microfluidics for BioEngineering Research (AMBER), MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, TechMed Center, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Séverine Le Gac & Bastien Venzac

  2. Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, University Hospital of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Verena Nordhoff

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  1. Séverine Le Gac
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  2. Verena Nordhoff
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  3. Bastien Venzac
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Correspondence to Séverine Le Gac .

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  1. Division of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Manabu Tokeshi

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Le Gac, S., Nordhoff, V., Venzac, B. (2019). Microfluidic Devices for Gamete Processing and Analysis, Fertilization and Embryo Culture and Characterization. In: Tokeshi, M. (eds) Applications of Microfluidic Systems in Biology and Medicine . Bioanalysis, vol 7. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6229-3_7

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