Title :
Softening of the mouse zona pellucida during oocyte maturation
Author :
Murayama, Yuko ; Yoshida, Kenta ; Takahashi, Hiroki ; Mizuno, Jun ; Akaishi, Kazuyuki ; Inui, Hiroaki
Author_Institution :
Coll. of Eng., Nihon Univ., Koriyama, Japan
Abstract :
A change in the elasticity and the resistance to dissolution of the mouse zona pellucida (ZP) was quantitatively evaluated at immature germinal vesicle (GV), mature metaphase II (MII) and fertilized pronuclear (PN) stages. Young´s modulus of the ZP was measured using a micro tactile sensor (MTS), a highly sensitive resonator-based sensor for a micro scale elasticity measurement. 0.25% α-chymotrypsin was used for the ZP dissolution assay. The results of measuring the ZP elasticity and the dissolution time clearly showed that the ZP softened during oocyte maturation and the ZP hardened after fertilization. The results indicate that the amount of the zona softening can be a criterion to evaluate oocyte quality for the selection of top quality mature oocyte before in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.
Keywords :
Young´s modulus; biomechanics; biomedical measurement; cellular biophysics; dissolving; elasticity; hardening; molecular biophysics; patient treatment; proteins; softening; tactile sensors; α-chymotrypsin; MTS; Young´s modulus; ZP dissolution assay; ZP hardening; electrical resistance; fertilized pronuclear; highly-sensitive resonator-based sensor; immature germinal vesicle; in vitro fertilization treatment; mature metaphase II; microscale elasticity measurement; microtactile sensor; mouse zona pellucida elasticity; oocyte maturation; oocyte quality; zona softening; Educational institutions; Elasticity; Embryo; In vitro; Mice; Softening; Tactile sensors;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE
Conference_Location :
Osaka
DOI :
10.1109/EMBC.2013.6611127
