Abstract
Respiration is useful parameter for evaluating embryo quality as it provides important information about metabolic activity. In this paper, we describe a scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) technique that is a non-invasive and sensitive method for measuring oxygen consumption by individual embryos. SECM measuring system can non-invasively measure respiration activity by single embryos of several species including human. The bovine embryos with higher oxygen consumption are better candidates to further development into good quality embryos and yielded higher pregnancy rates after embryo transfer. Respiration activity correlates with the embryo quality. SECM technique may be a valuable tool for accurately assessing the quality of embryos and thereby contribute to improving outcomes associated with assisted reproduction, including human in vitro fertilization.
