O-4: Morphological Analyses and Apoptosis Genes Expression Evaluation in Vitrified Human Ovarian Tissue after Warming, Long Term Culturing and Xenotransplantation

Background In vitro culturing and retransplantion of vitrified- warmed ovarian tissue are two ways to restore fertility after radiation or chemotherapy.This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of apoptosis in vitrified human ovarian tissue after warming, long term culturing and xenotransplantation by morphological analyses and apoptosis genes expression evaluation. MaterialsAndMethods We obtained human ovarian tissue biopsies from 30 women who underwent elective caesarean sections. Tissues were transported to the laboratory, then were cut into small pieces and were divided into two groups, vitrified and non-vitrified. Apoptosis incidence was assessed by light microscope and apoptosis related gene expression in both groups after warming, after 14 days in vitro culture and 30 days after xenotransplantation to γ-irradiated mice. Results We observed no morphological differences between nonvitrified and vitrified samples before and after culturing. But vitrified grafted tissues showed significantly less normal follicles than grafted-non-vitrified group (P