EMBRYO VIABILITY TESTING

这一分项目侧重于以下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孕症。我们的目标是发展 能够测定卵母细胞存活率的仪器 植入前胚胎。有了这个工具，一种新的衍生品 自我参照技术，我们使用的是代谢指标 活性或细胞生理学，以测试活性。到目前为止，我们的工作有 重点放在小鼠卵母细胞或胚胎上，但我们很快就会转移到 以仓鼠卵母细胞为例，它表现出与年龄相关的功能障碍 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 证明了胚胎之间的差异，这些胚胎后来分裂成 文化和那些没有文化的人。然而，最近我们已经开始 应用最新研制的蛇氧电极。结果是 非常鼓舞人心。不仅氧气消耗的变化可以 在受精后被区别对待，但也记录为 胚胎发育成胚泡。最令人惊讶的是，我们一直 能够记录卵母细胞的耗氧量，这通常是一项壮举 被认为是不可能的。这项技术的使用需要 对正常操作程序进行了相当大的更改，包括 调节温度，小心搬运。最近，两人 这个项目的P.I.已经获得了资金来开发一种量身定做的 生殖医学及生殖医学实验所须设有的系统 由一名全职助理运营。我们预计将在以下方面取得快速进展 这块地将在下一年投入使用。

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.