Fibrin encapsulation in addition with melatonin and endothelial cells aameliorated steroidogenesis and GDF-9 and BMP-15 genes expression in rat cryopreserved/thawed ovaries auto-transplanted.

OBJECTIVE

Ischemia following transplantation of cryopreserved/thawed ovaries lead to follicular atresia and ovarian dysfunction.This study aims to determine the effects of fibrin(Fib) and alginate(Alg) hydrogel with endothelial cells(ECs) and melatonin(Mel) on the sex hormones level and oocyte maturation associated genes expression following the heterotopic transplantation in rats.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

36 adult female rats(6-8 weeks) underwent ovariectomy. Cryopreserved/thawed ovaries were encapsulated in Fib+Alg hydrogel rich in ECs and Mel prepared according to our previous study and were autotransplant to the subcutaneous region.After 14 days,the ovaries were removed.The level of 17-beta estradiol and progesterone hormones was evaluated by the ELISA technique,and expressions of genes BMP-15 and GDF-9 were related to the maturation of oocytes by real-time PCR assay.

RESULTS

This research showed that the expression of GDF-9 and BMP-15 genes and the level of 17β-estradiol and progesterone hormones increased significantly in ovaries encapsulated in hydrogel compared to the cryopreserved/transplanted group(P < 0.05).The comparison between groups receiving hydrogel showed that the expression of GDF-9 and BMP-15 genes and the level of 17β-estradiol and progesterone hormones in rats receiving Fib+Alg+Mel+ECs hydrogel were higher than Fib+Alg hydrogel and Fib+ Alg+ECs hydrogel(P < 0.05).Also, no significant difference was observed between Fib+ Alg+Mel+ECs hydrogel and Fib+Alg+Mel hydrogel.The presence of endothelial cells had no significant effect on increasing the expression of GDF-9 and BMP-15 genes and the level of 17β-estradiol and progesterone hormones.

CONCLUSION

The present study showed that using Fib+Alg+Mel hydrogel could improve the induction of steroidogenesis and increase the expression of GDF-9 and BMP-15 genes in transplanted frozen ovarian tissue.