A three-dimensional microfluidic device for oocyte zona-removal and incubation

Abstract

To solve the low implantation rate of in-vitro fertilization (IVF), zona-free oocyte is widely used in IVF. However the process of zona-removal is not only tedious but also easy to harm the fragile oocyte. In this work we introduce a 3-dimensional microfluidic device to simplify the zona-removal process, and the applied gentle process is also capable to keep oocyte intact and precisely locate all oocytes in the well throughout the procedure.