Effect of melatonin on frozen-thawed ovarian autograft in a rat model

Objective: Fertility preservation is one of the most important issues in good prognosis oncologic patients of young age. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is a method of fertility preservation suitable for prepubertal girls and for patients with high risk of oncologic therapy delay. To improve ovarian graft survival is one of the largest challenges in this field of medicine. Materials and Methods: Female Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned into four experimental groups: c14 - euthanized 14 days after ovarian tissue transplantation (OTT) without any therapy, c28 - euthanized 28 days after OTT without any therapy, m14 - euthanized 14 days after OTT, treated with melatonin, and m28 - euthanized 28 days after OTT treated with melatonin. Ovariectomy was carried out two months before OTT; ovarian cortical fragments were frozen by vitrification and after two months transplanted into rat back muscle. Results: Fourteen days after OTT no statistically significant difference was recorded in estrogen blood level, in percentage of live ovarian tissue, and in number of capillaries in ovarian transplant between the control (c14 and c28) and treated (m14 and m28) groups. A statistically significant difference (p < 0.005) was recorded in the number of capillaries in 250 μm² (7.4 ± 2.1 vs. 10.5 ± 0.6 in c28 and m28, respectively) between the control and treated groups 28 days after transplantation. Conclusion: Cryoinjury and post-transplantation ischemic injury of ovarian graft are the most important problems of ovarian tissue transplantation, while ischemic injury seems to be more important than cryoinjury. Melatonin - a potent antioxidant and antiapoptotic factor - can improve transplanted ovarian tissue function via neoangiogenesis in ovarian graft. Further studies of these melatonin effects are needed.

Fertility preservation; Ovarian tissue cryopreservation; Melatonin

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