Cryopreservation of the Human Adult Ovarian Cortical Tissues by Vitrification.

Lee,  K A; Lee,  S H; Ha,  S D; Yoon,  S J; Ko,  J J; Lee,  W S; Yoon,  T K; Cha,  K Y

Original Article

Korean Journal of Fertility and Sterility 1999;26(2):251-256.
Published online January 1, 2001.

Cryopreservation of the Human Adult Ovarian Cortical Tissues by Vitrification.

K A Lee, S H Lee, S D Ha, S J Yoon, J J Ko, W S Lee, T K Yoon, K Y Cha

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate whether vitrification could be used for ovarian tissue preservation. The important Issue here is that the vitrification is very simple, easy, and economical compared to the conventional cryopreserving method that using automatic freezing instrument. Human ovarian cortical tissues were cryopreserved by vitrification with 5.5 M ethylene glycol and 1.0 M sucrose as cryoprotectant. Three points of temperature (4degrees C, room temperature, and 37degrees C) and two points of duration (5 or 10 minutes) for cryoprotectant treatment were examined to determine the best condition for vitrification of the human ovarian cortical tissues. After thawing, viability of the isolated primordial follicles was examined by dye-exclusion method. Histological appearance of tissues before and after the cryopreservation was evaluated. There was no toxic effect of the 5.5 M ethylene glycol on the primordial follicles. However, when the tissues were treated with cryoprotectant at 37degrees C for 10 minutes and exposed to liquid nitrogen, it seems likely that there is certain deleterious effects on the viability of the primordial follicles. The highest viability of the primordial follicles was obtained with the treatment of cryoprotectant at room temperature for 10 minutes. Follicles and oocytes survived after freezing and thawing had the similar normal shapes as was seen in the specimens before cryopreservation. It would be useful to apply vitrification in establishing ovarian tissue banking for clinical purposes.