Oosight™ Spindle-Check
Real-time, non-invasive imaging of the spindle and tri-laminar zona pellucida
New spindle-score method correlates with pregnancy
The Oosight™ Spindle-Check imaging system combines CRi’s patented optical, electronic and software elements to produce both live and still images of critical structures within the oocyte, including the meiotic spindle and tri-laminar zona pellucida. The core optical components of the system include a circular polarizer and interference filter (CPIF) that fit into an open position in the condenser turret, a unique, solid-state liquid crystal universal compensator that fits into the analyzer slot of the microscope. A scientific-grade megapixel CCD camera and powerful, intuitive software complete the system.
The system automatically calculates retardance and slow-axis orientation per pixel in a mega-pixel image. Since it utilizes both background calibration and high-quality optics, the resulting live and still images show unparalleled definition of birefringent structures against a uniformly dark background. Furthermore, these images uniquely contain quantitative data of true molecular organization of both the spindle and zona. Learn more about the Oosight Meta system.
Click on images to enlarge
Figures: 1) High-contrast Oosight image of enucleation procedure. Click here for a short movie (.avi, 10 MB) of this sequence [RN: link to Oosight SCNT Enucleation Rhesus Monkey.avi in Multimedia section], 2) Retardance magnitude image of an oocyte with a spindle.
Series of an MII Human oocyte exhibiting a strongly birefringent spindle at nearly 180-degrees from the polar body: first in image series shown in the retardance grayscale mode. The second image shows the spindle enlarged using the zoom function. Third and fourth in series are of the same oocyte shown in retardance pseudo-color and orientiation pseudo-color modes, respectively.
Image courtesy RMA NJ.
