EMBRYO VIABILITY TESTING

这个分项目的重点是儿童健康方面的一个主要问题， 美国妇女专门解决与年龄有关的问题 卵母细胞功能障碍和不育。 我们的目标是开发 能够确定卵母细胞活力的仪器， 植入前胚胎 用这种仪器，一种新的衍生物， 自我参照技术，我们使用代谢指标， 活性或细胞生理学，以测定活力。 我们迄今为止的工作 重点是小鼠卵母细胞或胚胎，但我们很快就会转向 以仓鼠卵母细胞为例， 与人类相似。 我们在这一领域的初步研究使用了Seris 钙电极测量跨膜离子通量，并成功地 证明了胚胎之间的差异，继续分裂， 文化和那些没有。 然而，最近，我们开始 应用新开发的Serp氧气电极。 结果 非常鼓舞人心。 不仅氧气消耗量的变化 受精后的区别，但也增加记录为 胚胎发育成胚泡。 最令人惊讶的是， 能够记录卵母细胞的耗氧量， 被认为是不可能的 这项技术的使用需要 正常操作程序的重大变化，包括 温度调节和小心操作。 最近，两人 这个项目的私人侦探已经获得了资金， 系统将安置在生殖医学实验室， 由一名全职员工操作。 我们期望在以下方面取得迅速进展： 这一领域在明年。

This subproject focuses on a major problem in the health of American women specifically addressing the question of age related oocyte dysfunction and infertility. Our goal is to develop instrumentation capable of determining the viability of oocytes and preimplantation embryos. With this instrument, a new derivative of the self-referencing technology, we are using indicators of metabolic activity or cell physiology, to assay viability. Our work to date has focussed on the mouse oocyte or embryo but we will soon move to consider the hamster oocyte, which shows an age-related dysfunction similar of the human. Our initial studies in this area used the Seris calcium electrode to measure transmembrane ion flux and successfully demonstrated differences between embryos that went on to divide in culture and those that did not. Most recently, however, we have begun to apply the newly developed Serp-oxygen electrodes. The results are very encouraging. Not only can changes in oxygen consump-tion be discriminated after fertilization but also an increase is recorded as the embryo develops to a blastocyst. Most surprisingly we have been able to record oxygen consumption from the oocyte, a feat commonly held to be impossible. The use of this technology has required considerable changes in the normal operating procedure, including the regulation of temperature and careful handling. Most recently the two P.I.s on this project have acquired funding to develop a tailor made system to be housed in the Laboratory for Reproductive Medicine and operated by a full time associate. We expect to see rapid progress in this field over the next year.