Can frozen-thawed human ovary withstand refreezing-rethawing in the form of cortical strips?

Purpose The aim of this study was to elucidate whether ovarian tissue is able to withstand a double freezing-thawing procedure. Methods Human ovarian cortical biopsies from 4 thawed whole ovaries were divided into 4 experimental subgroups: (a) frozen-thawed non-grafted group, (b) frozen-thawed xenografted group, (c) refrozen-rethawed non-grafted group, and (d) refrozen-rethawed xenografted group. Xenografting was performed using 8 severe combined immunodeficient mice for a total duration of 21 days. The following analyses were conducted: classic hematoxylin and eosin staining, Ki67 immunolabeling, transmission electron microscopy, Masson’s green trichrome, and double CD34 immunostaining. Results Morphologically normal preantral follicles were detected in all groups. We observed a dramatic decline of more than 65% in early preantral follicle survival rates after grafting of both frozen-thawed ( p