Continuous enucleation of bovine oocyte by microrobot with local flow distribution control

Abstract

We present a continuous enucleation process of bovine oocytes on a microfluidic chip to achieve the continuous cutting of the oocytes and increasing the potential viability of the enucleated oocyte. By combining microfluidic chip and micororobotics, the flow in a channel can be actively controlled and we achieved successive operations of 1) loading oocyte, 2) control cutting volume and 3) removing nucleus. The magnetically actuated microrobot can control local fluid flow by changing its position like gate valve and control fluid force distributions in a microchip which govern oocyte movement in a chip. The optimally designed microchannel for enucleation enables continuous operation and cutting bovine oocyte with smooth manner by hydrodynamic force. The new system is propose here to show advantages by the means of the continuous operation on oocytes in a short term, cutting precision and great potentiality on continuous enucleation process for clone technology.

Micro-UFO (Untethered Floating Object): A Highly Accurate Microrobot Manipulation Technique

“…Microrobots are a promising method in biological and medical applications for a number of purposes, such as drug delivery, biopsy, marking, cell manipulation, micro particle transport, etc., with minimal damage to the desired site [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. One of the most common application areas of microrobots is microfluidic systems [ 7 ].…”

“…These approaches can be counted as optical tweezers, thermal gradients, electrostatic forces, dielectrophoresis forces, and chemical concentration differences [ 9 , 10 ]. However, the use of the microrobots in such applications has more advantages over other applications when considering the spatial effects, the manipulation force to be applied, and the precision of micro/robot-object motion [ 2 ].…”

“…Additionally, the microrobot does not conserve its position when the applied magnetic force is paused and the suspension of the microrobot is lost. Arai et al have also been working on microrobot control with magnetic field effect using permanent magnets on the microrobot body, focusing on force output and position sensitivity of microrobot in their work [ 2 ]. Design of microrobots was modified in order to decrease friction force, leading to an improvement in accuracy of motion [ 3 ].…”

Precise Positioning of Diamagnetically Levitated Microrobot

“…Microrobotic applications can benefit from factors such as optical tweezers, thermal gradients, electrostatic forces, di-electrophoresis forces, chemical concentration differences (Ohta et al, 2012;Nelson et al, 2015). The use of microrobots in such applications is more advantageous than other applications when considering the effect on ambient conditions, the force to be applied and the precision of motion (Arai et al, 2012). Recent studies show that Metin Sitti and Arai use magnetic levitation and acoustic levitation, respectively.…”

“…Microrobots are used in biological and medical applications for a number of purposes such as drug delivery, biopsy, marking, cell manipulation, microparticle transport, etc., with minimal damage to the desired site (Mooney et al, 2014;Arai et al, 2012;Arai et al, 2010;Cui et al, 2011;Abbott et al;. In the microfluidic environment, principles of physics change with decreasing dimensions.…”