Molecular and Histological Evaluation of Sheep Ovarian Tissue Subjected to Lyophilization

Cryopreservation is routinely used to preserve cells and tissues; however, long time storage brings many inconveniences including the use of liquid nitrogen. Freeze-drying could enable higher shelf-life stability at ambient temperatures and facilitate transport and storage. Currently, the possibility to freeze-dry reproductive tissues maintaining vitality and functions is still under optimization. Here, we lyophilized sheep ovarian tissue with a novel device named Darya and a new vitrification and drying protocol and assessed effects on tissue integrity and gene expression. The evaluation was performed immediately after lyophilization (Lio), after rehydration (LR0h) or after two hours of in vitro culture (IVC; LR2h). The tissue survived lyophilization procedures and maintained its general structure, including intact follicles at different stages of development, however morphological and cytoplasmic modifications were noticed. Lyophilization, rehydration and further IVC increasingly affected RNA integrity and caused progressive morphological alterations. Nevertheless, analysis of a panel of eight genes showed tissue survival and reaction to the different procedures by regulation of specific gene expression. Results show that sheep ovarian tissue can tolerate the applied vitrification and drying protocol and constitute a valid basis for further improvements of the procedures, with the ultimate goal of optimizing tissue viability after rehydration.