Morphological Shifts Research Articles

PET Imaging of Neuro-Inflammation with Tracers Targeting the Translocator Protein (TSPO), a Systematic Review: From Bench to Bedside

Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, affecting 2-3% of the population of patients >65 years. Although the standard diagnosis of PD is clinical, neuroimaging plays a key role in the evaluation of patients who present symptoms related to neurodegenerative disorders. MRI, DAT-SPECT, and PET with [18F]-FDG are routinely used in the diagnosis and focus on the investigation of morphological changes, nigrostriatal degeneration or shifts in glucose metabolism in patients with parkinsonian syndromes. The aim of this study is to review the current PET radiotracers targeting TSPO, a transmembrane protein that is overexpressed by microglia in another pathophysiological process associated with neurodegenerative disorders known as neuroinflammation. To the best of our knowledge, neuroinflammation is present not only in PD but in many other neurodegenerative disorders, including AD, DLB, and MSA, as well as atypical parkinsonian syndromes. Therefore, in this study, specific patterns of microglial activation in PD and the differences in distribution volumes of these radiotracers in patients with PD as compared to other neurodegenerative disorders are reviewed.

Arsenite Exposure to Human RPCs (HRTPT) Produces a Reversible Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT): In-Vitro and In-Silico Study.

The human kidney is known to possess renal progenitor cells (RPCs) that can assist in the repair of acute tubular injury. The RPCs are sparsely located as single cells throughout the kidney. We recently generated an immortalized human renal progenitor cell line (HRTPT) that co-expresses PROM1/CD24 and expresses features expected on RPCs. This included the ability to form nephrospheres, differentiate on the surface of Matrigel, and undergo adipogenic, neurogenic, and osteogenic differentiation. These cells were used in the present study to determine how the cells would respond when exposed to nephrotoxin. Inorganic arsenite (iAs) was chosen as the nephrotoxin since the kidney is susceptible to this toxin and there is evidence of its involvement in renal disease. Gene expression profiles when the cells were exposed to iAs for 3, 8, and 10 passages (subcultured at 1:3 ratio) identified a shift from the control unexposed cells. The cells exposed to iAs for eight passages were then referred with growth media containing no iAs and within two passages the cells returned to an epithelial morphology with strong agreement in differential gene expression between control and cells recovered from iAs exposure. Results show within three serial passages of the cells exposed to iAs there was a shift in morphology from an epithelial to a mesenchymal phenotype. EMT was suggested based on an increase in known mesenchymal markers. We found RPCs can undergo EMT when exposed to a nephrotoxin and undergo MET when the agent is removed from the growth media.

Regime shift and changes in sediment morphology driven by sea level rise affect abundance of migratory waders

Regime shifts are likely to have strong impacts on all trophic levels and their interactions. In addition, weather conditions and sea level rise together with tidal currents may change sediment morphology in coastal areas and estuaries. Here, we studied the effects of these drivers of ecosystems on abundance of seven wader species feeding on macrozoobenthos in the German sector of the Wadden Sea. We hypothesized that regime shift caused decreases in wader abundance and that changes in sediment morphology driven by sea level rise and tidal amplitude affected these changes. We analyzed numbers of waders on a short term, 1998–2016, that matched a large-scale geographical study of sediment morphology in the German sector, and at a long term, 1987–2019. Changes in numbers of waders were estimated as slope of coefficients of the trends of wader species numbers in the two periods. The average (se) year of decreases in numbers of waders was initiated for most species and tidal basins in the year 1992 (± 0.4) that followed a regime shift in the Southern North Sea and in the Wadden Sea in 1988–1989. There were no statistical differences between the years when numbers of waders started to decrease between the northern and the southwestern tidal basins of the German sector, indicating that the drives affected both coastal sections simultaneously. Significant relationships were found between slopes of coefficients of wader species and sediment morphology and physical features as sea level rise and tidal amplitude. Relationships were most pronounced for the long term, 1987–2019 compared to the short term, 1998–2016. We conclude that regime shift and changes in sediment morphology driven by sea level rise and sediment change can affect abundance of migratory wader species in large estuaries and shallow coastal waters.

Effect of Electrolysis Parameters on the Fractal Structure of Electrodeposited Copper

<p>Models based on diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) have been extensively used to explore the mechanisms of dendritic particle aggregation phenomena. The physical and chemical properties of systems in which DLA aggregates emerge are given in their fractal. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study of the growth of electrodeposited copper dendrites in flat plate electrochemical cells from a fractal perspective. The effects of growth time, applied voltage, copper ion concentration, and electrolyte acidity on the morphology and fractal dimension of deposited copper were examined. ‘Phase diagram’ set out the variety of electrodeposited copper fractal morphology analysed by metallographic microscopy. The box counting method confirms that the electrodeposited dendritic structures manifestly exhibit fractal character. It was found that with the increase of the voltage and copper ion concentration. The fractal copper size becomes larger and its morphology shifts towards a dendritic structure, with the fractal dimension fluctuating around 1.60–1.70. In addition, the morphology of the deposited copper is significantly affected by the acidity of the electrolyte. The increase in acidity from 0.01 to 1.00 mol/L intensifies the hydrogen precipitation side reactions and the overflow path of hydrogen bubbles affects the fractal growth of copper dendrites.</p>

Effect of pore structure on the piezoelectric properties of barium titanate-polyvinylidene fluoride composite films

Piezoelectric voltage generation in porous barium titanate-poly(vinylidene fluoride) (BT-PVDF) particle-matrix composite films is investigated as a function of PVDF pore structure and porosity. BT-PVDF composite films fabricated via coagulation bath method attain distinct pore structures depending on the ethanol content of the bath. With increasing bath ethanol content, film morphology shifts from higher porosity finger-like cavities to lower porosity mesh-like structures. Finger-like films have a lower Young’s modulus than mesh-like films (224 MPa vs. 368 MPa), but produce higher piezoelectric output voltage when compressed compared to mesh-like films (400 mV vs. 57 mV under 3 N compression). The difference in piezoelectric response is attributed to differences in stress transfer between polymer matrix and ceramic particles. Finite element simulations reveal that finger-like structures produce well-ordered compressive stress while mesh-like structures produce poor stress alignment. The results indicate that improved stress transfer between polymer matrix and ceramic particles can be achieved with well-aligned pore structures, leading to higher piezoelectric output.

Geographic variation in bacterial assemblages on cane toad skin is influenced more by local environments than by evolved changes in host traits.

Bacterial assemblages on amphibian skin may play an important role in protecting hosts against infection. In hosts that occur over a range of environments, geographic variation in composition of bacterial assemblages might be due to direct effects of local factors and/or to evolved characteristics of the host. Invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina) are an ideal candidate to evaluate environmental and genetic mechanisms, because toads have evolved major shifts in physiology, morphology, and behavior during their brief history in Australia. We used samples from free-ranging toads to quantify site-level differences in bacterial assemblages and a common-garden experiment to see if those differences disappeared when toads were raised under standardised conditions at one site. The large differences in bacterial communities on toads from different regions were not seen in offspring raised in a common environment. Relaxing bacterial clustering to operational taxonomic units in place of amplicon sequence variants likewise revealed high similarity among bacterial assemblages on toads in the common-garden study, and with free-ranging toads captured nearby. Thus, the marked geographic divergence in bacterial assemblages on wild-caught cane toads across their Australian invasion appears to result primarily from local environmental effects rather than evolved shifts in the host.

The Role of Mesoscale Cloud Morphology in the Shortwave Cloud Feedback

AbstractA supervised neural network algorithm is used to categorize near‐global satellite retrievals into three mesoscale cellular convective (MCC) cloud morphology patterns. At constant cloud amount, morphology patterns differ in brightness associated with the amount of optically thin cloud features. Environmentally driven transitions from closed MCC to other morphology patterns, typically accompanied by more optically thin cloud features, are used as a framework to quantify the morphology contribution to the optical depth component of the shortwave cloud feedback. A marine heat wave is used as an out‐of‐sample test of closed MCC occurrence predictions. Morphology shifts in optical depth between 65°S and 65°N under projected environmental changes (i.e., from an abrupt quadrupling of CO2) assuming constant cloud cover contributes between 0.04 and 0.07 W m−2 K−1 (aggregate of 0.06) to the global mean cloud feedback.

Climbing and Clinging of Urban Lizards are Differentially Affected by Morphology, Temperature, and Substrate.

Urbanization alters the environment along many dimensions, including changes to structural habitat and thermal regimes. These can present challenges, but may also provide suitable habitat for certain species. Importantly, the functional implications of these habitat shifts can be assessed through the morphology-performance-fitness paradigm, though these relationships are complicated by interactions among habitat choice, other abiotic factors, and morphology across scales (i.e., micromorphology and gross anatomy). The common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) is one example of a cosmopolitan and successful urban colonizer. Quantifying both shifts in morphology over time and morphology-performance relationships under various ecological contexts can provide insight into the success of species in a novel environment. To examine how morphological variation influences performance, we measured seven gross morphological characteristics and utilized scanning electron microscopy to obtain high-resolution images of a claw from individuals living in established populations in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. We used a geometric morphometric approach to describe variation in claw shape and then compared the claws of contemporary lizards to those of museum specimens collected approximately 40 years ago, finding that claw morphology has not shifted over this time. We then performed laboratory experiments to measure the clinging and climbing performance of lizards on materials that mimic ecologically relevant substrates. Each individual was tested for climbing performance on two substrates (cork and turf) and clinging performance on three substrates (cork, turf, and sandpaper) and at two temperatures (24ºC and 34ºC). Clinging performance was temperature insensitive, but determined by substrate-specific interactions between body dimensions and claw morphology. Conversely, the main determinant of climbing performance was temperature, though lizards with more elongate claws, as described by the primary axis of variation in claw morphology, climbed faster. Additionally, we found strong evidence for within-individual trade-offs between performance measures such that individuals who are better at clinging are worse at climbing and vice versa. These results elucidate the complex interactions shaping organismal performance in different contexts and may provide insight into how certain species are able to colonize novel urban environments.

Rapid and sensitive determination of ascorbic acid based on label-free silver triangular nanoplates

In this study, a new method for the detection of ascorbic acid (AA) was proposed. It was based on the protective effect of AA on silver triangular nanoplates (Ag TNPs) against Cl− induced etching reactions. Cl− can attack the corners of Ag TNPs and etch them, causing a morphological shift from triangular nanoplates to nanodiscs. As a result, the solution changes color from blue to yellow. However, in the presence of AA, the corners of Ag TNPs can be protected from Cl− etching, and the blue color of the solution remains unchanged. Using this effect, a selective sensor was designed to detect AA in the range of 0–40.00 μM with a detection limit of 2.17 μM. As the concentration of AA varies in this range, color changes from yellow to blue can be easily observed, so the designed sensor can be used for colorimetric detection. This method can be used to analyze fruit juice samples.

Fluorene-9-bisphenol affects the terminal differentiation of mouse embryonic bodies

Fluorene-9-bisphenol (BHPF) has recently attracted interest as it is increasingly used in industrial settings as a substitute for Bisphenol A (BPA). However, the effects of BHPF exposure on embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal, pluripotency, and differentiation remain poorly understood. This study investigates the impacts of BHPF on mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) and embryonic bodies (EBs). Our results reveal that BHPF exposure leads to a morphological shift in mESCs, reducing the percentage of dome-shaped colonies and indicating loss of self-renewal and pluripotency. BHPF exposure also appeared to affect the early stages of EB formation and their growth dynamics, with a reduction in EB numbers and an increase in their size. Subsequent gene expression analysis revealed that BHPF exposure led to increased expression of the inflammatory gene Il6, indicating a potential stress response.Furthermore, BHPF affected the terminal differentiation pathway, modulating the expression of 16 genes associated with distinct cell types, including lymphatic endothelium, keratinocyte epithelium, pancreatic beta cells, macrophages, monocytes, T-cells, neurons, retinal ganglion cells, nephrons proximal tubule cells, and cardiomyocytes. These findings offer insights into the impact of BHPF on ESC biology and suggest potential implications for developmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Future work should focus on elucidating the underlying mechanisms of BHPF-mediated effects on stem cell function. This may offer new perspectives for understanding the health impacts of environmental exposure to BHPF.

На пути к оптимальному структурированию системы видовых парадигм в русском языке

The author of this paper defines the aspectual paradigms of Russian verbs as such grammatical structures whose formal aspect is correlated with the conceptual one, therefore being its cognitive counterpart. With a view to analysing these paradigms he uses the theory of markedness as an analytic tool. According to it, the grammatical changes that occur in natural languages originate from general principles of naturalness which are typologically relevant. They result in morphological shifts that are linked to the verbalisation of Russian aspectual paradigms and allow to predict the direction of their development. In particular, the principle of natural grammatical development should be considered crucial. It means that the grammatical changes in natural languages cause elimination of marked elements, so that these more complex linguistic structues are replaced with less complex ones. Such a principle manifests an unconscious desire of language users to minimise their linguistic efforts, as it would place an additional burden on interpersonal communication.

Systemic Inflammation Causes Microglial Dysfunction With a Vascular AD phenotype

BackgroundStudies in rodents and humans have indicated that inflammation outside CNS (systemic inflammation) affects brain homeostasis contributing to neurodevelopmental disorders. Itis becoming increasingly evident that such early insults may also belinked to neurodegenerative diseases like late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). Importantly, lifestyle and stress, such as viral or bacterial infection causing chronic inflammation, may contribute to neurodegenerative dementia. Systemic inflammatory response triggers a cascade of neuroinflammatory responses, altering brain transcriptome, cell death characteristic of AD, and vascular dementia. Our study aimed to assess the temporal evolution of the pathological impact of systemic inflammation evoked by prenatal and early postnatal peripheral exposure of viral mimetic Polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (PolyI:C) and compare the hippocampal transcriptomic changes with the profiles of human post-mortem AD and vascular dementia brain specimens. MethodsWe have engineered the PolyI:C sterile infection model in wildtype C57BL6 mice to achieve chronic low-grade systemic inflammation. We have conducted a cross-sectional analysis of aging PolyI:C and Saline control mice (3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 16 months), taking the hippocampus as a reference brain region, and compared the brain aging phenotype to AD progression in humans with mild AD, severe AD, and Controls (CTL), in parallel to Vascular dementia (VaD) patients’ specimens. ResultsWe found that PolyI:C mice display both peripheral and central inflammation with a peak at 6 months, associated with memory deficits. The hippocampus is characterized by a pronounced and progressive tauopathy. In PolyI:C brains, microglia undergo aging-dependent morphological shifts progressively adopting a phagocytic phenotype. Transcriptomic analysis reveals a profound change in gene expression throughout aging, with a peak in differential expression at 9 months. We show that the proinflammatory marker Lcn2 is one of the genes with the strongest upregulation in PolyI:C mice upon aging. Validation in brains from patients with increasing severity of AD and VaD shows the reproducibility of some gene targets in vascular dementia specimens as compared to AD ones. ConclusionsThe PolyI:C model of sterile infection demonstrates that peripheral chronic inflammation causes progressive tau hyperphosphorylation, changes in microglia morphology, astrogliosis and gene reprogramming reflecting increased neuroinflammation, vascular remodeling, and the loss of neuronal functionality seen to some extent in human AD and Vascular dementia suggesting early immune insults could be crucial in neurodegenerative diseases.

Monocytic Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells from Tumor Tissue Are a Differentiated Cell with Limited Fate Plasticity.

Owing to ease of access and high yield, most murine myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) knowledge comes from the study of spleen-derived MDSCs rather than those isolated from the tumor. Although several studies have identified subtle differences in suppressive function between these MDSCs, a recent report demonstrated that the whole peripheral myeloid compartment poorly reflects myeloid populations found at the tumor. We confirm and extend these observations by presenting data that indicate extensive differences exist between peripheral and tumor MDSCs, suggesting that it may be inappropriate to use spleen MDSCs as surrogates for studying tumor MDSCs. Using cytospins, we observed that tumor MDSCs have undergone a morphologic shift from immature myeloid cell forms commonly seen in bone marrow (BM) and spleen MDSCs and acquired mature myeloid cell characteristics. Spleen and BM monocyte-like MDSCs (M-MDSCs) readily responded to differentiation signals for multiple myeloid cell types whereas tumor M-MDSCs had remarkably reduced cellular plasticity. At the time of isolation, M-MDSCs from BM or spleen have little to no T cell suppressive activity whereas those from the tumor possess immediate and efficient T cell suppressive function. Finally, microarray analysis revealed that the transcriptomes of tumor and spleen M-MDSCs possessed >4500 differentially expressed transcripts. We conclude that tumor M-MDSCs are more differentiated and mature, and that they are morphologically, genetically, and functionally distinct from spleen and BM M-MDSCs. These observations have important implications for the design of anti-MDSC therapies and suggest that preclinical studies using nontumor MDSCs could lead to results not applicable to tumor MDSCs.

Impact of UV-C Irradiation on Bacterial Disinfection in a Drinking Water Purification System.

The supply of microbiological risk-free water is essential to keep food safety and public hygiene. And removal, inactivation, and destruction of microorganisms in drinking water are key for ensuring safety in the food industry. Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) irradiation is an attractive method for efficient disinfection of water without generating toxicity and adversely affecting human health. In this study, the disinfection efficiencies of UV-C irradiation on Shigella flexneri (Gram negative) and Listeria monocytogenes (Gram positive) at various concentrations in drinking water were evaluated using a water purifier. Their morphological and physiological characteristics after UV-C irradiation were observed using fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry combined with live/dead staining. UV-C irradiation (254 nm wavelength, irradiation dose: 40 mJ/cm2) at a water flow velocity of 3.4 L/min showed disinfection ability on both bacteria up to 108 CFU/4 L. And flow cytometric analysis showed different physiological shift between S. flexneri and L. monocytogenes after UV-C irradiation, but no significant shift of morphology in both bacteria. In addition, each bacterium revealed different characteristics with time-course observation after UV-C irradiation: L. monocytogenes dramatically changed its physiological feature and seemed to reach maximum damage at 4 h and then recovered, whereas S. flexneri seemed to gradually die over time. This study revealed that UV-C irradiation of water purifiers is effective in disinfecting microbial contaminants in drinking water and provides basic information on bacterial features/responses after UV-C irradiation.

Molecular phylogeny of Columbellidae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda).

The neogastropod family Columbellidae is a highly successful group of small, primarily epibenthic marine snails distributed worldwide and most abundant in the tropics. The great diversity of the group makes them attractive for studying evolutionary shifts in gastropod anatomy, morphology, ecology and diversity. The existing classification of the family has been based to a large degree on the morphology of the shell and radula. Indeed, membership in the family is traditionally confirmed using the unique morphology of the radula. To reconstruct columbellid phylogeny and assess monophyly of the group, we assembled a multilocus dataset including five mitochondrial and nuclear genes, for 70 species in 31 genera. Phylogenetic analyses using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood are not well enough resolved to support a subfamilial classification, but do support the monophyly of the family and of several well-defined genera and supra-generic groupings. Two of the most diverse nominal genera, Mitrella and Anachis, are supported as highly polyphyletic. Overall, the resulting topologies indicate that the generic and subfamilial classification is in need of extensive revision but that phylogenomic data are needed to resolve columbellid relationships.

Coupling phenotypic changes to extinction and survival in an endemic prey community threatened by an invasive snake

When facing novel invasive predators, native prey can either go extinct or survive through exaptation or phenotypic shifts (either plastic or adaptive). Native prey can also reflect stress-mediated responses against invasive predators, affecting their body condition. Although multiple native prey are likely to present both types of responses against a single invader, community-level studies are infrequent. The invasive California kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae) a good example to explore invasive predators’ effects on morphology and body condition at a community level, as this invader is known to locally extinct the Gran Canaria giant lizard (Gallotia stehlini) and to notably reduce the numbers of the Gran Canaria skink (Chalcides sexlineatus) and the Boettger’s gecko (Tarentola boettgeri). By comparing a set of morphological traits and body condition (i.e. body index and ectoparasite load) between invaded and uninvaded areas for the three squamates, we found clear evidence of a link between a lack of phenotypic change and extinction, as G. stehlini was the single native prey that did not show morphological shifts. On the other side, surviving C. sexlineatus and T. boettgeri exhibited phenotypic differences in several morphological traits that could reflect plastic responses that contribute to their capacity to cope with the snake. Body condition responses varied among species, indicating the potential existence of simultaneous consumptive and non-consumptive effects at a community level. Our study further highlights the importance addressing the impact of invasive predators from a community perspective in order to gain a deeper understanding of their effect in native ecosystems.

A new species of the Ordovician horseshoe crab Lunataspis

AbstractHorseshoe crabs as a group are renowned for their morphological conservatism punctuated by marked shifts in morphology associated with the occupation of non-marine environments and have been suggested to exhibit a consistent developmental trajectory throughout their evolutionary history. Here, we report a new species of horseshoe crab from the Ordovician (Late Sandbian) of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, from juvenile and adult material. This new species provides critical insight into the ontogeny and morphology of the earliest horseshoe crabs, indicating that at least some Palaeozoic forms had freely articulating tergites anterior to the fused thoracetron and an opisthosoma comprising 13 segments.

A tool for mapping microglial morphology, morphOMICs, reveals brain-region and sex-dependent phenotypes

Environmental cues influence the highly dynamic morphology of microglia. Strategies to characterize these changes usually involve user-selected morphometric features, which preclude the identification of a spectrum of context-dependent morphological phenotypes. Here we develop MorphOMICs, a topological data analysis approach, which enables semiautomatic mapping of microglial morphology into an atlas of cue-dependent phenotypes and overcomes feature-selection biases and biological variability. We extract spatially heterogeneous and sexually dimorphic morphological phenotypes for seven adult mouse brain regions. This sex-specific phenotype declines with maturation but increases over the disease trajectories in two neurodegeneration mouse models, with females showing a faster morphological shift in affected brain regions. Remarkably, microglia morphologies reflect an adaptation upon repeated exposure to ketamine anesthesia and do not recover to control morphologies. Finally, we demonstrate that both long primary processes and short terminal processes provide distinct insights to morphological phenotypes. MorphOMICs opens a new perspective to characterize microglial morphology.

Structures of a large prolate virus capsid in unexpanded and expanded states generate insights into the icosahedral virus assembly

Many icosahedral viruses assemble proteinaceous precursors called proheads or procapsids. Proheads are metastable structures that undergo a profound structural transition known as expansion that transforms an immature unexpanded head into a mature genome-packaging head. Bacteriophage T4 is a model virus, well studied genetically and biochemically, but its structure determination has been challenging because of its large size and unusually prolate-shaped, ∼1,200-Å-long and ∼860-Å-wide capsid. Here, we report the cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of T4 capsid in both of its major conformational states: unexpanded at a resolution of 5.1 Å and expanded at a resolution of 3.4 Å. These are among the largest structures deposited in Protein Data Bank to date and provide insights into virus assembly, head length determination, and shell expansion. First, the structures illustrate major domain movements and ∼70% additional gain in inner capsid volume, an essential transformation to contain the entire viral genome. Second, intricate intracapsomer interactions involving a unique insertion domain dramatically change, allowing the capsid subunits to rotate and twist while the capsomers remain fastened at quasi-threefold axes. Third, high-affinity binding sites emerge for a capsid decoration protein that clamps adjacent capsomers, imparting extraordinary structural stability. Fourth, subtle conformational changes at capsomers' periphery modulate intercapsomer angles between capsomer planes that control capsid length. Finally, conformational changes were observed at the symmetry-mismatched portal vertex, which might be involved in triggering head expansion. These analyses illustrate how small changes in local capsid subunit interactions lead to profound shifts in viral capsid morphology, stability, and volume.

PSX-B-21 Equine Embryo Viability Based on Morphokinetics

Abstract The objective of this study was to analyze equine embryo morphokinetics and whether or not they were indicative of survivability upon successful implantation into the uterus of a recipient female. In equine reproduction, fertility is a lowly heritable trait that has an exceedingly large financial impact on the ability to grow genetic lines. In order to increase pregnancy rates, producers must have access to accurate decision-making tools. Ten (n = 10) fertilized equine embryos collected via flushing by licensed veterinarian, Dr. Gregg Veneklasen, DVM in Canyon, TX. Flushed embryos were filmed for a thirty-five (35) second observation period with an Iolight Microscope and then processed through video motion magnification (VMM) software Lambda Vue, that amplified embryo activity 300x their normal movement. These VMM embryos were then assessed for time specific morphological changes using Image J software. Embryo morphological dimension shifts previously unseen under a simple microscope became humanly perceptible and measurable. For morula stage embryos, measurements of significance were taken on the inner cell mass (ICM), total embryo area, trophoblast to ICM distance, and finally the vertical, diagonal, and horizontal axis of the sub-zonal distance. Protocols were developed for embryos in the blastocyst stages, where measurements were taken on the vertical, diagonal, and horizontal axis of the total embryo, area of the embryo, notation of general ICM location, and trophoblast thickness around the embryo face. All measurements were taken in microns every five seconds for the thirty-five second recording period. Findings presented that embryos with a greater ICM, total embryo area, and sub-zonal vertical, diagonal, and horizontal distance established pregnancies as frequently as embryos with less momentous differences in distance (P < 0.1). This research has shown the relationship between morphokinetics and pregnancy had no significance of determining pregnancy viability. This resulted in enhanced prediction of embryo transfer techniques based on traditional grading, making pregnancy rates more predictable and consistent.