The present invention relates to an improved micro drop culture dish which is comprised of a substantially flat bottom surface portion and a wall portion integrally secured thereto. The bottom surface portion and wall portion are constructed of a rigid, transparent material. A plurality of circular wells having open upper surfaces are embedded into the substantially flat bottom surface portion as integral, concave indentations. These wells may also be cylindrical in shape with one end integrally attached in a perpendicular manner to the bottom surface portion. The wells may be concentrically arranged in a six-around-one manner, or in a variety of other useful patterns. The bottom surface portion may have numerical or alphabetical markings which identify individual wells for tracking purposes. This micro drop culture dish may be fitted with a detachable cover which is about 8 mm deep and of a size and shape which would allow it to cooperatively and circumferentially attach to the wall portion of the dish. The cover may have a plurality of protrusions which allow for slow gas exchange.
An embryo culturing method and apparatus enables a plurality of embryos to be grown in communal clusters in a culturing container. The embryos are kept separate from each other in open interconnected compartments that are disposed in the culture container. Each compartment is contained in a structure having a plurality of interconnected compartments, and each compartment is sized to contain a single embryo. The culturing container will contain a plurality of the compartmentalized structures. The method and apparatus of this invention includes a culturing container, such as a Petrie dish, in which the embryos are grown. The Petrie dish preferably contains a plurality of the embryo-culturing compartmentalized structures which can be positioned in the Petrie dish in a predetermined pattern. For example, the compartmentalized structuress can be positioned in the Petrie dish at the 12 O'Clock, 2 O'Clock, 4 O'Clock, 8 O'Clock and 10 O'clock positions, or in any other planned deployment. The individual structures can be individually identified by letters, for example, such as A, B, C, D, etc. Each compartmentalized structure can contain a plurlaity, for example four, compartments which are interconnected for fluid exchange, but which are sized to restrain migration of an embryo from one compartment to another. The compartments in each structure can be identified by numerals, i.,e., 1, 2, 3 and 4. Thus each compartment in each structure would have a unique identifier code, such as A1, B2, C3, and the like; or 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, or the like. Any identifier system can be used which will enable the individual embryos to be distinguished one from another. After the embryos are placed in the compartments in each structure, each of the structures is covered with a drop of an embryo-enhancing growth nutrient so that each of the embryos in any one structure is exposed to a common growth nutrient, and each embryo in each compartmentalized structure can share growth by-products with each of the other embryos in the same compartmentalized structure.
