Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in conjunction with vascular endothelial growth factor maintains primordial follicle numbers in transplanted mouse ovaries.

Objective: To determine whether granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), stem cell factor (SCF), or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) improve the outcome of ovarian grafting.

Design: Experimental animal study.

Setting: Tertiary care hospital, animal facilities.

Animal(s): Young adult (6- to 8-week-old) C57BL/6 female mice.

Intervention(s): Orthotopic transplantation of the frozen-thawed ovary. Group 1 (n = 6) received VEGF (8 g/kg/day); group 2 (n = 6) received VEGF and G-CSF (50 g/kg/day), group 3 (n = 6) received G-CSF and SCF (100 g/kg/day), and group 4 (n = 5) received saline (vehicle controls). All injections were given once daily for 5 days starting the day after surgery. Ovaries were collected 2 weeks after transplantation.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Number of nonatretic immature (primordial, primary, and small preantral) follicles.

Result(s): Transplanted ovaries in mice injected with VEGF concurrently with G-CSF maintained a statistically significantly larger pool of primordial follicles compared with transplanted ovaries in saline-injected controls. Follicle numbers (total immature and primordial) in transplanted ovaries showed no statistically significant difference in mice injected with VEGF alone or G-CSF plus SCF compared with saline-injected controls.

Conclusion(s): After ovarian transplantation, mice treated with VEGF and G-CSF maintain a significantly greater number of primordial follicles compared with the transplanted ovaries in control animals, suggesting that the combination of G-CSF and VEGF minimizes ischemic damage and thus improves the viability and function of the ovarian graft.