Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 24, 2026
Vitrification of Ovarian Cortex Tissue to Achieve a Glassy State of Aggregation
Published on: August 9, 2024
[Freezing effects on the in vitro development of mice preantral follicles]
A Anastácio1, O Broca, J-L Golmard
1Unité fonctionnelle de biologie de la reproduction, groupe hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 83, boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France; UPMC université Paris-VI, ER9 UPMC, 75005 Paris, France.
Objectives:
Comparison of in vitro development, survival and oocyte maturation rates of mice preantral follicles frozen by various methods.
Materials And Methods:
Cryopreservation of the germinal cells using the slow freezing method for entire ovary (Ova Cong) or isolated preantral follicles (Iso Cong) and vitrification in a closed system of isolated preantral follicles (Iso Vitr). Non-freezing follicles were considered as the control group. The four groups were simultaneous cultured for 12 days in a microdrop system. At each day of the culture, mean diameter was measured and at the end of the culture, follicular survival and mature oocyte rates were compared.
Results:
Iso Cong and Ova Cong follicles achieved a smaller diameter (423.0 ± 47.1 μm et 450.3 ± 15.7 μm, respectively) than control group (680.7 ± 12.3 μm) at the 12th day of culture. At the end of the culture 6.21 % of Iso Cong follicles, 53.41 % of Ova Cong follicles and 83,77 % of Control follicles were alive. Mature oocyte rates were similar for the cryopreserved groups, 44.4 % for Iso Cong group and 44.7 % for Ova Cong group, but smaller than the Control group with 90 % of mature oocytes. Only 1/171 of the Iso Vitr follicles survived to the culture.
Discussion And Conclusions:
This study shows that mice's ovarian follicles can grow in vitro after cryopreservation but their diameter, survival and oocytes maturation rates are smaller than in the control group.
