A novel force sensing platform using passive magnetic springs for mechanical characterisation of human oocytes

This article presents a novel low cost force sensing platform for the mechanical characterisation of human oocytes. This platform is compatible with the specific context of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). The oocyte is placed inside a standard Petri dish filled with a culture medium. It is immobilized using a holding pipette. The disposable parts used to mechanically test each oocyte are made of glass. This configuration is very similar to the one used in IntraCytoplasmic Sperm Injection protocol excepted that the injection pipette is replaced by a glass indenter. This platform uses two passive and linear magnetic springs to measure the nanoforce applied to the oocyte. The stabilisation of the unstable magnetic springs is passively achieved using the reaction force generated by the compressed oocyte. Some preliminary results obtained with an experimental platform are presented. The global magnetic stiffness of the indenter, evaluated by simulation and experimentally identified, is about 0.0013 N m−1.