Autologous transplantation of fresh ovarian tissue in the ICR mice model

SUMMARY
During the past 20 years, autologous transplantation of either frozen ovarian tissue for cancer patients or ovarian tissue pretreated with curative medications for premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) patients have been achieved worldwide. POI is characterized by amenorrhea before 40 years of age. As a result, juvenile cancer patients and POI patients have increased chances to give healthy birth based on this achievement. It also indicates that mastering the skills of ovarian auto-transplantation is required for researchers and doctors. In this study, we performed orthotopic auto-transplantation of fresh ovarian tissues by transplanting unilateral half ovarian tissue to the contralateral ovary in the ICR (Institute of Cancer Research) strain of outbred, heterogeneous mice to determine if the transplanted tissue could be functional. The transplantation surgery entailed taking partial ovarian tissue from the unilateral ovary of the adult ICR female mouse and then transplanting into the ovarian sac of the contralateral ovary, in which part of the ovarian tissue had been removed in advance. One week after surgery, we found that the freshly transplanted mouse ovarian tissue survived and functional, as histochemical and immunofluorescence assays have shown that not only both follicles at different developing stages and corpus luteum are available, but the morphology of them are properly maintained within the transplanted tissue. This study approved that for those who are interested in ovarian transplantation study, applying mouse model to practice ovarian tissue auto-transplantation is reliable and easy handled.