Impact of GnRHa pretreatment on the autotransplatation efficacy of cytopreserved rat ovarian tissue

Pre-therapeutic cryopreservation of ovarian tissue and subsequent transplantation after disease remission has recently emerged as an option to restore endocrinal function and preserve fertility for patients subjected to gonadotoxic treatments such as chemotherapy. However, the relatively low survival rate of follicles after grafting the frozen-thawed ovarian tissue largely limited the application of this technique. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues (GnRHa), owing to their endocrinal regulatory effect, have been successfully used for fertility preservation against gonadotoxic conditions such as cytotoxic agents based anti-cancer therapy. In this study, we evaluated the potential protective effect of precedent GnRHa treatment before cryopreservation on freezing-thawing related follicular damages using a rat autoxenograft model. We have observed that GnRHa significantly increases the fraction of follicles with normal morphology, while presenting negnigible effect on the physiological recovery of the grafted follicular tissue, as demonstrated by the estrous cycle, folliculogenesis and post-autograft vascularization. Our data implicates that GnRHa pretreatment may effectively increase the efficacy of cryopreservation and the subsequent successful rate of transplantation.