Influence of Follicle Stage on Artificial Ovary Outcome Using Fibrin As a Matrix
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Human Reproduction, Vol.31, No.2 pp. 427–435, 2016 Advanced Access publication on November 30, 2015 doi:10.1093/humrep/dev299 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Reproductive biology Influence of follicle stage on artificial ovary outcome using fibrin as a matrix M.C. Chiti1, M.M. Dolmans1,2,*, R. Orellana1, M. Soares1,2, F. Paulini1, J. Donnez3, and C.A. Amorim1 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/31/2/427/2379968 by guest on 13 December 2020 1Poˆle de Recherche en Gyne´cologie, Institut de Recherche Expe´rimentale et Clinique, Universite´ Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier 52, bte. B1.52.02, 1200 Brussels, Belgium 2Gynecology Department, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, 1200 Brussels, Belgium 3Society for Research into Infertility, Brussels, Belgium *Correspondence address. Poˆle de Recherche en Gyne´cologie, Institut de Recherche Expe´rimentale et Clinique, Universite´ Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Mounier 52, bte B1.52.02, 1200 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32-2-764-5237; Fax: +32-2-764-9507; E-mail: marie-madeleine. [email protected] Submitted on July 15, 2015; resubmitted on October 19, 2015; accepted on November 6, 2015 study question: Do primordial-primary versus secondary follicles embedded inside a fibrin matrix have different capabilities to survive and grow after isolation and transplantation? summaryanswer: Mouse primordial-primary follicles showed a lower recovery rate than secondary follicles, but both were able to grow. what is known already: Fresh isolated mouse follicles and ovarian stromal cells embedded in a fibrin matrix are capable of surviving and developing after short-term autografting. study design, size, duration: In vivo experimental model using 11 donor Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI) mice and 11 recipient severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice. Both ovaries from all NMRI mice were mechanically disrupted and primordial- primary and secondary follicles were isolated with ovarian stromal cells. They were then encapsulated in a fibrin matrix composed of 12.5 mg/ml of fibrinogen (F12.5) and 1 IU/ml of thrombin (T1) (F12.5/T1), and grafted to the inner part of the peritoneum of SCID mice for 2 and 7 days. participants/materials, setting, methods: This study was conducted at the Gynecology Research Unit, Universite´ Catholique de Louvain. All materials were used to conduct histological (H-E staining) and immunohistochemical (Ki67, TUNEL) analyses. mainresultsandtheroleofchance:Although all grafted fibrin clots were recovered, the follicle recovery rate on day 2 was 16 and 40% for primordial-primary and secondary follicles respectively, while on day 7, it was 6 and 28%. The secondary group showed a significantly higher recovery rate than the primordial-primary group (23%, P-value ,0.001). Follicles found in both groups were viable, as demonstrated by live/dead assays, and no difference was observed in the apoptosis rate between groups, as evidenced by TUNEL. Their growth to further stages was confirmed by Ki67 immunostaining. limitations, reasons for caution: As demonstrated by our results, secondary follicles appear to be more likely to survive and develop than primordial-primary follicles in a fibrin matrix after both periods of grafting. These findings may also be attributed to the specific features of the fibrin matrix, which could benefit larger follicles, but not smaller follicles. wider implications of the findings: This study is essential to understanding possible impairment caused by factors such as the isolation procedure or fibrin matrix composition to the survival and development of different follicle stages. It therefore provides the basis for further investigations with longer periods of grafting. study funding/competing interest(s): This study was supported by grants from the Fonds National de la Recherche Scien- tifique de Belgique (grant Te´le´vie No. 7.4578.14 and 7.4627.13, grant 5/4/150/5 awarded to Marie-Madeleine Dolmans), Fonds Spe´ciaux de Recherche, Fondation St Luc, the Foundation Against Cancer, and the Region Wallone (Convention N86519-OVART) and donations from Mr Pietro Ferrero, Baron Fre`re and Viscount Philippe de Spoelberch. None of the authors have any competing interests to declare. Key words: artificial ovary / isolated pre-antral follicles / allografting / mouse / fibrin matrix & The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: [email protected] 428 Chiti et al. Introduction In recent years, different research teams have been developing the concept of an artificial ovary (Amorim et al., 2009; Shikanov et al., 2009, 2011; Hornick et al., 2012; Vanacker et al., 2012, 2014; Donnez and Dolmans, 2013; Luyckx et al., 2013a, 2014; Laronda et al., 2014; Smith et al., 2014; Rajabzadeh et al., 2015) with the aim of restoring fer- tility in patients who cannot undergo transplantation of frozen-thawed ovarian tissue due to the risk of reintroducing malignant cells (Dolmans et al., 2010; Luyckx et al., 2013b; Donnez and Dolmans, 2015). To this end, a murine model was used to test the feasibility of encapsulating isolated murine pre-antral follicles in different natural polymers. A previ- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/31/2/427/2379968 by guest on 13 December 2020 ous study by our group showed that 20% of murine pre-antral follicles could be detected after isolation, encapsulation in an alginate matrix and autografting for 1 week (Vanacker et al., 2014). Despite these en- Figure 1 Different developmental stages of isolated follicles. Light microscopy pictures of isolated follicles at 10 × magnification: (a) prim- couraging results, alginate was found to have a number of limitations, ordial-primary (PP) follicles; (b) secondary (S) follicles. such as a low degradation rate, poor bioadhesion to encapsulate ovarian stromal cells, and decreased vascularization inside the matrix. To overcome these drawbacks, Luyckx et al. (2013a) developed a Ethical approval fibrin scaffold after testing different combinations of fibrinogen and Guidelines for animal welfare were approved by the Committee on Animal thrombin. Using isolated mouse follicles encapsulated in a fibrin formula- Research of the Universite´ Catholique de Louvain. tion with low concentrations of fibrinogen and thrombin, Luyckx et al. (2014) reported a higher degradation rate of the matrix and a more active process of revascularization inside this scaffold. Probably Ovariectomy procedure because of this, they recovered a greater number of follicles after auto- Eleven female NMRI mice aged 6–25 weeks were used for this study. Animal grafting (32%) (Luyckx et al., 2014). Similarly to Vanacker et al. (2014), housing conditions were previously reported by Vanacker et al. (2012). All they also found a higher proportion of secondary follicles and even the procedures were carried out under laminar flow hoods using sterilized some antral follicles after 1 week of transplantation (Luyckx et al., materials. The ovaries were removed through a dorsal incision in anesthe- 2014). However, it is important to stress that before transplantation, tized mice (ketamine 75 mg/kg; Anesketin, Eurovet, Heusden Zolder, Belgium). Buprenorphine (0.1 mg/kg; Temgesic, Schering Plough, Kenil- Luyckx et al. (2014) observed that more than 50% of the follicles were worth, NJ, USA) was administered for analgesia. Soon after the ovariectomy at the secondary stage, which raised an important question: did primor- procedure, the mice were euthanized by CO2 asphyxiation. The ovaries dial and primary follicles grow to the secondary stage in 7 days, or were were kept in minimum essential medium + GlutamaxTM (MEM, Gibco, these secondary follicles found after grafting already at the secondary Belgium) at 48C until the isolation procedure. stage atthe moment of transplantation? If they were originally primordial- primary follicles, did we encounter faster growth, as suggested by Telfer and Zelinski (2013)? If they were secondary follicles, what happened to Isolation of pre-antral follicles and ovarian the population of primordial-primary follicles? These are very pertinent stromal cells questions if wetakeinto account the factthat the large majority of follicles Fatty tissuesurrounding theovaries wasremoved with surgicalscissors.In order isolated from human ovarian tissue are at the primordial-primary stage to isolate pre-antral follicles and ovarian stromal cells, we applied the protocol (Amorim et al., 2009). To address these crucial points, we investigated described by Vanacker et al. (2014). The ovaries were initially minced into frag- × the impact of the developmental stage of isolated follicles, primordial- ments of 0.5 0.5 mm with a tissue chopper (McIlwain Tissue Chopper, Mickle Laboratory, Guildford, UK) and transferred to 50-ml conical tubes primary or secondary, on their survival and growth after encapsulation containing Dulbecco’s phosphate-buffered saline medium (PBS 1X) without in a fibrin matrix and grafting. calcium and magnesium (Gibco, Life Technologies, Merelbeke, Belgium), sup- plemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Sigma-Aldrich, Bornem, Belgium). The suspension was pipetted several times to mechanically disrupt the tissue fragments and then transferredtoPetri dishesand investigated for fol- Materials and Methods licles under a stereomicroscope (Leica, Van Hopplynus Instruments, Brussels, Belgium). Over the course of one hour, isolated follicles were picked up Experimental design by two operators