title: Restoring fertility after ovarian tissue cryopreservation: a half century of research.
abstract: Tissue transplantation and in vitro ovarian follicle culture have been investigated as alternative techniques to restore fertility in young women who are facing fertility-threatening diseases or treatments following ovarian tissue cryopreservation. Although transplants of fresh or frozen ovarian tissue have successfully yielded healthy live births in different species including humans, the risks of reintroducing cancer cells back into the patient, post treatment, have limited its clinical purpose. The in vitro ovarian follicle culture minimizes these risks and provides a way to harvest more mature oocytes, however its clinical translation has yet to be determined. Not only is it possible for tissue cryopreservation to safeguard fertility in cancer patients, this technique also allows the maintenance of germplasm banks for animals of high commercial value or for those animals that are at risk of extinction. Given the importance of managing female genetic material, this paper reviews the progress of the methods used to preserve and restore female fertility in different species to demonstrate the results obtained in the past 50 years of research, the current achievements and the future directions on this field.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Manipulation of Oocytes and Ovarian Pre-antral Follicles (LAMOFOPA), Faculty of Veterinary of Ceará State University, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Franciele Osmarini
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Lunardi
authors.forename: Valdevane Rocha
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.forename: Marcelo Picinin
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Bernuci
authors.forename: Luciane Osmarini
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Lunardi
authors.forename: Raphael Fernando Braga
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.forename: Adeline de Andrade
authors.initials: Ade A
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: José Ricardo
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: de Figueiredo
authors.forename: Ana Paula Ribeiro
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research; D015925:Cryopreservation; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D010053:Ovary / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*