CortOcyte – Cortical tension: a predictor of oocyte fitness

Meiosis produces gametes, essential for sexual reproduction. Meiosis in human females is error-prone, generating a high basal rate of aneuploid oocytes, having deleterious consequences for fertility and offspring development. Human and mouse oocytes developmental potential is accurately predicted by their mechanical properties. Their stiffness has to be tightly gated to develop into blastocysts. Strikingly, aberrant cortical tension is a rather frequent defect in a natural population of oocytes.


Our consortium has solved how cortical tension is regulated in oocytes and zygotes, and showed that modifying their stiffness alters the geometry of division and produces aneuploidy (Chaigne NCB 2013; Chaigne Nat Commun 2015; Chaigne Nat Commun 2016; Bennabi Nat Commun 2020).

In this project, we want to sort oocytes depending on their cortical tension and predict their outcome, using a minimally invasive microfluidic device that could serve as a new technology for personalized reproductive medicine.