High throughput mechanical characterization of oocyte using robot integrated microfluidic chip

This paper presents a novel measurement system of cellular mechanical properties based on a robot integrated microfluidic chip. In order to achieve the high throughput measurement of cellular mechacal properties, we proposed the robot integrated microfluidic chip (robochip), taking advantages of both of micromechanical manipulator and Lab-on-a-Chip devices. The robochip contained a pair of a magnetically driven on-chip robotic probe and a force sensor. The characterization system based on the robochip performed by the visual feedback control, and the continuous cell measurement was demonstrated. The throughput of our system was 15 to 20 seconds per one oocyte. Moreover, the measurement of the viscoelastic properties were demonstrated as a quality evaluation of oocyte. Experimental results shows that the oocyte has the viscoelastic properties among the same culture condition, and it is important to analyze the mechanical properties of oocyte for the evaluation of the quality. From these results, we concluded that the high through put cellular mechanical characterization was achieved, and our robochip approach was a promising technique for a cellular characterization because the chip part was disposable.