Iranian Scientists Design Electrical Device to Detect High-Quality Human Eggs
In a joint study conducted at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Tehran, and the Reproductive Sciences Center of Royan Research Institute, a simple electrical microsensor was designed and built to detect high-quality mouse eggs.
This electrical device predicts egg quality by using three electrical properties of the egg membrane, egg radius, and the thickness of the zona layer surrounding the egg.
To evaluate the effectiveness of this microsensor, the predictions made by it were compared with the evaluation of an embryologist.
Royan Research Institute announced that the results of this study were published in the journal Lab Chip in 2024.
In relevant remarks in January, the head of the biotechnology department of Royan Research Institute in Isfahan said that there was a possibility in Iran for women in their 30s to freeze their eggs for later pregnancy.
“Women in their 30s who are not married should evaluate their egg reserves by performing an AMH test so that, if necessary, they can preserve their fertility chances by freezing their eggs,” said Mohammad Hossein Nasr Esfahani.
Noting that egg freezing is an opportunity for women whose ovarian reserves have decreased due to age to preserve their chances of pregnancy, he said, “However, not every egg means the birth of a baby, and no medical center can guarantee that every egg will turn into a fetus. If pregnancy does not occur naturally after marriage, eggs frozen in a nitrogen tank can provide the necessary substrate for embryo production. In these circumstances, the eggs are removed from the frozen state and fertilized with the partner's sperm until the embryo is transferred to the mother's uterus.”
“In the laboratory, the chance of fertilization of each egg is about 70%, so out of 1,000 eggs collected, about 700 are expected to be fertilized. Of these, approximately 650 will form three-day embryos or 350 five-day embryos, and the chance of pregnancy for each five-day embryo transferred is about 40%,” Nasr Esfahani said.
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