An innovative minimally-invasive vaginoscopic approach for intrauterine infusion in rats – an infertility perspective

Abstract

In fertility research, intrauterine administration in small animals presents significant technical challenges, often necessitating advanced and precise techniques. Historically, surgical methods have been preferred; however, these approaches are complex, invasive and expensive. While less invasive, intravaginal methods are generally performed without direct visualization and lack standardization, which raises the risk of complications and post-procedure mortality. We present a novel, minimally invasive technique that uses video-guided vaginoscopy to overcome these constraints. This technique efficiently eliminates the need for surgical intervention and improves safety and precision by enabling clear visualization and targeted delivery beyond the cervix. To facilitate the intrauterine delivery of agents, the method utilizes a modified 1 ml micropipette tip as a speculum, designed with a 5 mm wide slit as a technical aperture. The vaginoscope, a repurposed otoscope with an integrated camera and optimal focal length, was employed into the opposite end, which was linked to a mobile device enabling real-time visualization. This creative design reduced discomfort for the animal and the researcher while allowing for exact monitoring when the catheter entered the uterine lumen, guaranteeing precise speculum alignment and producing dependable and repeatable results. The protocol has been successfully implemented over 60 times, with all infusions achieving success and no adverse events reported. This minimally invasive intrauterine technique provides a straightforward, sustainable and effective method for delivering drugs or induction agents directly into the vaginal, cervical or uterine regions, making it suitable for applications in cell therapies, gene therapies and embryo transfers in assisted reproduction technologies.