title: Development of antral follicles after xenografting of isolated small human preantral follicles.
abstract: Small human pre-antral follicles can be enzymatically isolated from the surrounding stroma, and are able to survive after 7 days of xenografting. The aim of the present study was to assess the developmental capacity of enzymatically isolated human follicles after long-term xenografting to severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. Ovarian biopsies were obtained from three women 26-29 years of age. Human ovarian tissue was enzymatically dissociated using collagenase or a purified collagenase blend to obtain isolated follicles that were xenografted to SCID mice for 5 months. Recombinant FSH was given to the mice for the last 2 weeks. Five months after xenografting, follicular morphology was assessed by histology, and follicular proliferation by Ki-67 immunohistochemistry. Four grafts containing a total of 84 follicles were recovered. This follicular population was composed of 11 primordial follicles, 38 primary follicles, 31 secondary follicles and four antral follicles. Ki-67 was found to stain granulosa cells in antral follicles intensively. The results demonstrate, for the first time, that isolated human follicles are able to survive after long-term xenografting, and can develop into antral follicles after FSH stimulation.
authors.affiliation: Gynecology Research Unit, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marie-Madeleine
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Dolmans
authors.forename: Wu Yuan
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Camboni
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Torre
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Langendonckt
authors.forename: Belen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martinez-Madrid
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Donnez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D006080:Ovarian Follicle / Q000378:metabolism / Q000637:transplantation*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
chemical_list: D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone