title: The impact of alpha lipoic acid on developmental competence of mouse vitrified pre-antral follicles in comparison to those isolated from vitrified ovaries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cryopreservation of ovarian tissues and pre-antral follicles is a promising prospect for preservation of women fertility.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro developmental competence of mouse vitrified pre-antral follicles in comparison to isolated pre-antral follicles derived from vitrified ovaries in the presence of alpha lipoic acid (ALA).
  
  
  METHODS
  Pre-antral follicles derived from fresh, vitrified-warmed ovarian tissues and vitrified-warmed pre-antral follicles were cultured individually with or without ALA, followed by adding hCG to induce ovulation. The follicle growth, oocyte maturation, and embryo development were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The diameter and development of follicles, oocyte maturation and embryo development rates were significantly higher in ALA supplemented groups compared to the respective ALA-free conditions groups. Aforementioned parameters were significantly higher in vitrified-warmed follicles in comparison to follicles derived from vitrified-warmed ovaries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings support a superior performance of pre-antral follicles when vitrified rather than when isolated from vitrified ovaries with regard to increasing the rates of developmental parameters. Moreover, ALA improves the in vitro maturation of pre-antral follicles in vitrified and non-vitrified samples. This article extracted from M.Sc. thesis. (Sahar Hatami).
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran.
authors.forename: Sahar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hatami
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran. ; Institute of Biological Sciences, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zavareh
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mojdeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salehnia
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran. ; Institute of Biological Sciences, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran.
authors.forename: Taghi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lashkarbolouki
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran. ; Institute of Biological Sciences, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Taghi
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Ghorbanian
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karimi
keywords: Alpha Lipoic Acid; Ovary; Preantral follicles; Vitrification