New Ways to Improve In Vitro Pregnancy Rates

Researchers at the department of biomedical engineering in the University of Michigan have discovered that , in mice, rocking embryos in a new device while they are being grown in in vitro fertilization (IVF) improves the rate of pregnancy by 22%. This happens because the new device they invented mimics the body's motions as the embryos make their way down the woman's Fallopian tube. This new device holds the early-stage embryos in a thimble-sized funnel with microscopic channels on the bottom. The funnel is positioned on top of pins that move up and down. This motion pushes fluids, like nutrients, in through the microchannels, and waste out of the channels. The flow of these fluids caused by the pins mimics the flow inside the body due to muscle contractions and other factors. Approximately 77% of the mice implanted with the embryos grown in the new device were successful, whereas only 55% of the statically-grown embryos worked. "By making the cells feel more at home, we get better cells," said Shu Takayama, an associate professor in the biomedical engineering department. Human clinical trials have already been started.

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