Experimental measurement of human oocyte mechanical properties on a micro and nanoforce sensing platform based on magnetic springs

Abstract

This article presents a new micro and nanoforce sensor used to perform a mechanical characterisation of human oocytes. This device is based on the use of low-stiffness magnetic springs. The oocytes to be characterised are placed on a force-sensitive platform. A manipulator equipped with a standard micropipette is used to mechanically compress the oocyte. Some complete "force-compression length" curves associated with mechanical load-unload cycles are given. These curves show the linear, the non-linear and also the plastic mechanical behaviour of the oocytes. These characterisations must be considered as a preliminary result which illustrates that the mechanical variability and the mechanical evolution of human oocytes during their maturation process can be observed with a force sensor based on magnetic springs.

A novel force sensing platform using passive magnetic springs for mechanical characterisation of human oocytes

“…The oocyte behaviour during the loading cycle is linear. The difference detected between the load and the unload is the hysteresis due to the viscoelastic nature of the oocyte in accordance with the results obtained by Abadie et al [17].…”

“…One can mention the robochip system [16] which consists in compressing the oocyte against a magnetic force sensor using a probe, or the micro and nanoforce sensing platform based on passive magnetic springs [17,18] which compresses the oocyte against the border of a well located at the center of a specifically designed Petri dish. These studies have demonstrated that the mechanical behavior of an oocyte evolves and depends on its maturity stage [12,13,19,17]. However, and at least in France, using these devices with human oocytes requires the approval of the "'Agence de Biomédecine"' (public organization under the supervision of the french Minister of Health) which may be difficult.…”

Optical power meter using radiation pressure measurement

“…There are also other possible applications of PyC for measuring weak contact forces [27,28]. Indeed, the present device could be used for this but only using a linear component of magnetic spring along either a single horizontal axis or vertical axis.…”

Experimental‐based material parameter identification of oocytes

“…1 the experimental result show a non-linear behaviour with differing loading/unloading paths. Due to quasi-static velocity plastic deformations are assumed and already reported [7]. The optimised parameter sets for the 12 indentations are listed in Tab.…”