The effect of agar substrate on growth and development of cryopreserved-thawed human ovarian cortical follicles in organ culture.

To preserve human ovarian tissue structure and improve follicular growth and survival during in-situ culture, various biomaterials are used. In this study we aimed to compare agar as a cultivation substrate with matrigel-coated insert in order to achieve an optimum system for in-situ human follicle culture. Frozen-thawed human ovarian cortical tissues were cultured on either matrigel-coated inserts or agar-soaked substrates. The proportion of morphologically viable and degenerated follicles at different developmental stages, secreted hormonal levels, and apoptotic and proliferation gene expressions were compared between the cultured groups after 7-days of culture. The follicular growth was not significantly different between the two cultured groups, although showing higher percentage of growing follicles in agar cultured group. The secreted hormonal levels didn't have any difference between two cultured groups. Although the apoptotic gene expressions didn't show any difference between the cultured groups, the apoptotic index was lower in agar cultured group. In addition, Ki67 gene expression, a proliferative marker, showed a significantly higher expression in agar cultured group. Based on the results, agar is as suitable as matrigel-coated inserts for the survival and growth of follicles during culture. Therefore, agar can be an inexpensive alternative substrate for culturing frozen-thawed human ovarian cortical strips. Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Zeinab Ghezelayagh, Naeimeh Sadat Abtahi, Sepideh Khodaverdi, Mojtaba Rezazadeh Valojerdi, Aboulfazl Mehdizadeh, Bita Ebrahimi. The effect of agar substrate on growth and development of cryopreserved-thawed human ovarian cortical follicles in organ culture. European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology. 2021 Mar;258:139-145

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PMID: 33422774

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