expression of folliculogenesis-related genes in vitrified human ovarian tissue after two weeks of in vitro culture

objective: this study was designed to evaluate the effects of vitrification and in vitro culture of human ovarian tissue on the expression of oocytic and follicular cell-related genes. materials and methods: in this comparative study, ovarian tissue samples were obtained from eight transsexual women. samples were cut into small fragments and were then assigned to vitrified and non-vitrified groups. in each group, some tissue fragments were divided into un-cultured and cultured (in α-mem medium for 2 weeks) subgroups. the normality of follicles was assessed by morphological observation under a light microscope using hematoxylin and eosin (h&e;) staining. expression levels of factor in the germ line alpha (figla), kit ligand (kl), growth differentiation factor 9 (gdf-9) and follicle stimulating hormone receptor (fshr) genes were quantified in both groups by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) at the beginning and the end of culture results: the percentage of normal follicles was similar between non-cultured vitrified and non-vitrified groups (p>0.05), however, cultured tissues had significantly fewer normal follicles than non-cultured tissues in both vitrified and non-vitrified groups (p<0.05). in both cultured groups the rate of primary and secondary follicles was significantly higher than non-cultured tissues (p<0.05). the expression of all examined genes was not significantly altered in both non-cultured groups. whiles, in both cultured tissues than non-cultured tissues, the expression of figla gene was significantly decreased, kl gene was not changed, gdf-9 and fshr genes was significantly increased (p<0.05). conclusion: human ovarian vitrification following in vitro culture has no impairing effects on follicle normality and development and expression of related-genes. however, in vitro culture condition has deleterious effects on normality of follicles.