Fig. 2

Isolation and attachment of individual blastomeres. a The zona pellucida was cut open. b A blastomere was isolated. c The isolated blastomere was moved outside the zona pellucida through the cut. d The zona pellucida with the remaining blastomeres was moved to the target location for the next blastomere. e Positions of blastomeres on the cover glass were chosen as far away from each other as possible, but not too close to the border of the PBS drop. f Once all blastomeres had been placed on the cover glass their outermost parts were pressed against the glass. The dashed line marks the section shown in G. g The attachment surface was increased even further by stretching out the pressed down periphery of blastomeres by moving the pressed down needle away from the blastomere. The circled N marks the position of the nucleus in this blastomere. h The finalized slide with the reversed cover glass attached in the center chamber and sealed with nail polish. The marker "1" was dissolved by the nail polish