Ovarian tissue vitrification and heterotopic autologous transplantation in prepubertal Wistar rats.

Objective: To evaluate the efficiency of ovarian tissue heterotopic autografting after vitrification in prepubertal rats.

Methods: Fragments of excised ovaries from prepubertal rats were used after assessing post-warming cellular viability, to determine the best vitrification protocol prior to retroauricular autografting. Pre-pubertal females (N=24) were castrated and divided into three group: Group 1 - fresh ovarian tissue transplantation; Group 2 - vitrified/warmed tissue transplantation; Group 3 - bilateral oophorectomy without transplantation.