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Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation: Ovarian Cortical Tissue Vitrification

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Gonadal Tissue Cryopreservation in Fertility Preservation

Abstract

Vitrification has become common practice in cryopreservation of embryo, blastocyst, oocytes, and sperm. Freezing of ovarian tissue has been studied since the late 1990s, and in 2004, Donnez et al. reported that live births could be achieved with this method. Reports worldwide have indicated that slow freezing is a common method of cryopreservation. Successive reports have emerged since 2005 describing ovarian tissue cryopreservation by vitrification in animal experiments and using human tissue; however, there have been no reports to date in which vitrification was clinically applied and live births were successfully achieved. We have been conducting studies through pre-clinical tests using Cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis) since 2006, and as a result, at present in June, 2016, we have achieved ovarian tissue cryopreservation in 229 cases and 2 live births following thawed transplantation. This article outlines the research findings so far regarding ovarian tissue cryopreservation by vitrification; additionally, it describes our ovarian cortical tissue vitrification method.

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Correspondence to Nao Suzuki .

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Sugishita, Y. et al. (2016). Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation: Ovarian Cortical Tissue Vitrification. In: Suzuki, N., Donnez, J. (eds) Gonadal Tissue Cryopreservation in Fertility Preservation. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55963-4_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55963-4_5

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