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The fertilization rate in assisted reproduction depends significantly on the quality of the oocyte, especially on the hardening of the zona pellucida, which is a gelatinous layer of extracellular matrix surrounding the oocyte. Current reproduction techniques use elaborated and frequent manual manipulation steps, which are expensive, non-standardized, and observer dependent. However, a technically simple to perform, reliable and robust, indisputable and observer independent method is needed to characterize the biophysical properties of the oocyte, especially the hardening state of the zona pellucida. Therefore, a microfluidic-based cell trap technique is proposed, which offers a simple oocyte handling through hydrodynamic trapping. The zona pellucida aspiration at an aperture was measured observer-independently by electrical impedance spectroscopy for the first time. Impedance spectra were fitted by an …