A micro-fabricated device (microICSI) improves porcine blastocyst development and procedural efficiency for both porcine intracytoplasmic sperm injection and human microinjection.

Purpose: Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) imparts physical stress on the oolemma of the oocyte and remains among the most technically demanding skills to master, with success rates related to experience and expertise. ICSI is also time-consuming and requires workflow management in the laboratory. This study presents a device designed to reduce the pressure on the oocyte during injection and investigates if this improves embryo development in a porcine model.

Nano-liter perfusion microfluidic device made entirely by two-photon polymerization for dynamic cell culture with easy cell recovery.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has been the material of choice for microfluidic applications in cell biology for many years, with recent advances encompassing nano-scaffolds and surface modifications to enhance cell-surface interactions at nano-scale. However, PDMS has not previously been amenable to applications which require complex geometries in three dimensions for cell culture device fabrication in the absence of additional components. Further, PDMS microfluidic devices have limited capacity for cell retrieval following culture without severely compromising cell health.

Molecular basis of binding and stability of curcumin in diamide-linked γ-cyclodextrin dimers.

Curcumin is a naturally occurring molecule with medicinal properties that is unstable in water, whose efficacy as a drug can potentially be enhanced by encapsulation inside a host molecule. In this work, the thermodynamics and mechanism of binding of curcumin to succinamide- and urea-linked γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) dimers in water are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The simulated binding constants of curcumin to succinamide- and urea-linked γ-CD dimers at 310 K are 11.

Photoinduced trans-to-cis isomerization of cyclocurcumin.

The photophysical properties of cyclocurcumin in various solvents are studied for the first time to shed light on the nonradiative processes of the parent compound, curcumin, which has a range of medicinal properties. Steady-state fluorescence and fluorescence-excitation spectra of cyclocurcumin in polar aprotic solvents are strongly dependent on excitation (λ(ex)) and emission (λ(em)) wavelength, respectively. The fluorescence quantum yield also depends on λ(ex) and increases with the viscosity of the medium.

Second-harmonic generation and two-photon-excited autofluorescence microscopy of cardiomyocytes: quantification of cell volume and myosin filaments.

The ability to quantify changes in cardiomyocyte and myosin volume across gestation and in response to intrauterine insults will lead to a better understanding of the link between low birth weight and an increased risk of heart disease in adult life. We present the use of second-harmonic generation (SHG) and two-photon excitation autofluorescence (TPEF) microscopy to image unstained isolated fetal cardiomyocytes. The simultaneous collection of these two images provides a wealth of information on the morphology of cardiomyocytes.