The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) and Z-VAD-FMK (Z-VAD) as anti-apoptotic agents to preserve ovarian function and prevent tissue damage during ovarian tissue cryopreservation and transplantation. This study consisted of two steps, in vitro and in vivo. In the first step, human ovarian tissues were cryopreserved using slow-freezing media alone, S1P, or Z-VAD (control, S1P, Z-VAD group); based on the outcomes in these groups, Z-VAD was selected for subsequent xenotransplantation. In the second step, human frozen/thawed ovarian tissues were grafted into fifty mice divided into three groups: slow-freezing/thawing and transplantation without an anti-apoptotic agent (Trans-control) and xenotransplantation with or without Z-VAD injection (Trans-Z-VAD-positive and Trams-Z-VAD-negative groups, respectively). In the first step, the Z-VAD group had a significantly higher primordial follicular count than the S1P (p = 0.005) and control groups (p = 0.04). Transplanted ovarian tissues were obtained 4 weeks after transplantation (second step). Angiogenesis was significantly increased in the Z-VAD-negative (p = 0.03) and -positive (p = 0.04) groups compared to the control group. This study demonstrated that slow-freezing and transplantation with Z-VAD is an effective method for preserving primordial follicle counts, decreasing double-strand DNA breaks, and increasing angiogenesis in a mouse model. Further molecular and clinical studies are needed to confirm these results.
Keywords: Z-VAD-FMK, sphingosine-1-phosphate; apoptosis; fertility preservation; ovarian tissue transplantation.