Development of an automated system to assess the embryo quality based on scanning electrochemical microscopy

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H04481
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 90130:Medical systems-related
• Research Institution: Yamagata University
• Principal Investigator: Abe Hiroyuki 山形大学, 大学院理工学研究科, 教授 (10375199)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 黒谷 玲子 山形大学, 大学院理工学研究科, 准教授 (00453043)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: バイオ関連機器 / 医療・福祉 / 超精密計測 / 先端機能デバイス / ミトコンドリア / 細胞呼吸 / 生殖医療

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Respiration is a useful parameter for evaluating cell and embryo quality as it provides important information about mitochondrial function. In this study, we have developed an automated system to assess the mitochondrial respiratory activity and embryo quality based on scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) technique. We have employed a new SECM system to establish an accurate method for determining the oxygen consumption of single, identical cultured cells, oocytes and embryos. The development of mitochondrial respiratory activity depends on mitochonarial membrane potential and the gene expression of cytochrome c oxidase (COX). The embryos with higher mitochondrial function are better candidates to further development into good quality embryos. We propose that this new automated SECM system is a valuable diagnostic tool for non-invasively assessing the respiration rate of individual embryos, an indicator of cell and embryo quality.

Free Research Field

生殖生物学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究で開発した全自動細胞呼吸測定システムは、単一胚レベルでミトコンドリア呼吸機能を解析できることから、胚の品質評価や細胞代謝機能の新しい解析技術と学術的に価値が高い。また、自動で短時間・非侵襲的に卵子や受精卵の品質を評価できることから、不妊治療や再生医療など、我が国が直面している少子高齢化社会においてニーズが高い医療分野における新しい診断技術として期待される。