Three-dimensional micromanipulation of oocyte using micro manipulator

Abstract

This paper presented the three-dimensional oocyte manipulation system for the two-electrode voltage clamp (TEVC) experiment. We incorporated hybrid use of the image-based manipulation and the quartz crystal resonator (QCR) force sensor. The imaging technique was used to detect the tip of the end-effector, whereas the QCR force sensor was incorporated to detect the force interaction between the sample and the end-effector. In this study, we started with the establishment of a calibration method to correlate the workspace of the stereomicroscope with the micromanipulator for the three-dimensional Cartesian coordination. Subsequently, we characterize the change of the feature quantify of the image signals and the force signal during the insertion process of the TEVC capillary. Using the experimental system, we demonstrated the automatic capillary insertion for TEVC experiment, at which the low insertion depth was preferable.