RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The oncological treatment may damage ovarian function. To prevent this, it is possible to cryopreserve the ovarian tissue, and to keep the samples for long-term storage. The frozen-thawed tissue could be retransplanted after chemo- or radiotherapy. AIM: The aim of our study was to examine the effect of cryopreservation on the viability of ovarian tissue. METHOD: We analyzed the survival of frozen-thawed donated ovarian tissues. The quality of the follicles and hormone production in fresh and frozen-thawed samples were compared. RESULTS: Histological analysis showed that the number of viable follicles was reduced by 23% in the frozen-thawed samples. However, viable follicles still presented in post thawing ovarian tissues. Maximal estradiol production in frozen-thawed tissues was 908 pg/ml and hormone production was similar to the control tissues. The maximal progesterone production was 1.95 ng/ml post thawing, but these values were lower than the progesterone production of fresh tissues. CONCLUSIONS: The method of ovarian cryopreservation used in our laboratory was able preserve the viability of follicles in frozen-thawed ovarian tissues. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(49), 1947-1954.