Pretreatment of ovaries with collagenase before vitrification keeps the ovarian reserve by maintaining cell-cell adhesion integrity in ovarian follicles.

ABSTRACT: The mammalian ovarian follicle is comprised of the germ cell or oocyte surrounded by the somatic cells, the granulosa and theca cells. The ovarian stroma, including the collagen-rich matrix that supports the three-dimensional disk-like follicular structure, impacts the integrity of the ovarian follicle and is essential for follicular development. Maintaining follicular integrity during cryopreservation has remained a limiting factor in preserving ovarian tissues for transplantation because a significant proportion of developed follicles in the frozen-thawed ovaries undergo atresia after transplantation. In this study, we show for the first time that during vitrification of the mouse ovary, the attachment of the oocyte to the granulosa cells was impaired by the loss of the cadherin adhesion

SUBMITTER: Kawai T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7176664 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature