Biophysical optimization of preimplantation embryo culture: what mechanics can offer ART

Abstract

Owing to the rise of ART and mounting reports of epigenetic modification associated with them, an understanding of optimal embryo culture conditions and reliable indicators of embryo quality are highly sought after. There is a growing body of evidence that mechanical biomarkers can rival embryo morphology as an early indicator of developmental potential and that biomimetic mechanical cues can promote healthy development in preimplantation embryos. This review will summarize studies that investigate the role of mechanics as both indicators and promoters of mammalian preimplantation embryo development and evaluate their potential for improving future embryo culture systems.

Electrically-driven handling of gametes and embryos: taking a step towards the future of ARTs

“…79 Confinement of gametes and embryos within microchannels allows for more focus to be given to physical and mechanical stimuli in vitro to better mimic the in vivo situation. 51 Culture medium droplets of reduced sizes yielded better results in blastocyst development of human embryos. 80 Additionally, an IVP embryo is subjected to stress induced by various assisted reproductive procedures.…”

“…48 Microfluidic chips designed for use in ARTs are plentiful and have been subjected to a number of reviews in the past 5 years. [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] Due to the high compatibility of sperm for its manipulation within microstructures, a plethora of such chips solely for the collection, handling and analysis of semen have been proposed and discussed. [62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71] Examples of microfluidic chips developed for the in vitro processing of oocytes, 72,73 sperm cells 74,75 and the culture of embryos 76 are presented in Fig.…”

The changing tide of human fertility

“…Furthermore, ART may also impact offspring fertility by facilitating the transgenerational transmission of aneuploidies ( Belva et al , 2020 ) and abnormal DNA methylation profiles ( Caramaschi et al , 2021 ) as well as genetic mutations ( Aitken et al , 2020 ). Naturally, the industry is doing everything it can to avoid such problems through the development of sophisticated embryo selection procedures and the widespread adoption of genetic screening protocols ( Minasi et al , 2016 ; Hawkins et al , 2021 ; Sanders et al , 2021 ; Sang et al , 2021 ). Nevertheless, when practiced at scale, ART may still encourage poor fertility genotypes to remain within the population.…”