title: Vitrification of mouse preantral follicles versus slow freezing: Morphological and apoptosis evaluation.
abstract: The aim of this study was evaluation of survivability, maturation rate and apoptotic gene expression of preantral follicles after vitrification and slow freezing technique. Normal mouse preantral follicles were randomly divided into three experimental groups. In the control group, follicles were cultured immediately; in the vitrification and slow freezing groups, follicles were cultured after vitrification-warming and slow freezing-thawing procedures. Follicular viability was assessed by using 0.4% trypan blue, and molecular evaluation of messenger RNA levels of apoptosis-related genes was performed by the semi-quantitative RT-PCR method after 3 h of culture. Oocyte maturation rates were also evaluated on day 14 of culture. Survival and maturation rate in the slow freezing group were significantly lower than those in control and vitrification groups (P ≤ 0.05). Although there was no difference in Survivin expression among the three experimental groups, Bcl-2 expression was significantly lower in the slow freezing group compared to the other groups (P ≤ 0.05). The expression of Bax, P53, Fas and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in the slow freezing group was significantly higher than control and vitrification groups (P ≤ 0.05). Preantral follicle vitrification seems to be better than slow freezing as seen in the survival, maturation and expression rates of apoptotic gene variants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medical Science, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Abdolvahab
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Taghavi
authors.forename: Mojtaba Rezazadeh
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Valojerdi
authors.forename: Mehdi Forozandeh
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Moghadam
authors.forename: Bita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ebrahimi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000235:genetics*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005615:Freezing; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D009866:Oogenesis; D006080:Ovarian Follicle / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D000077022:Survivin; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D058989:Vitrification; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C494827:Bax protein, mouse; C117749:Birc5 protein, mouse; C491899:Fas protein, mouse; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D000077022:Survivin; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein; D019014:fas Receptor
keywords: apoptosis; cryotop vitrification; mouse; preantral follicle; slow freezing