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Open AccessArticle
Encapsulation of Bovine Primordial Follicles in Rigid Alginate Does Not Affect Growth Dynamics
by
Kathryn L. McElhinney
Kathryn L. McElhinney 1,2,3,
Erin E. Rowell
Erin E. Rowell 1,2 and
Monica M. Laronda
Monica M. Laronda 1,3,4,*
1
Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
2
Department of Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
3
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
4
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Bioengineering 2024, 11(7), 734; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11070734 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 22 May 2024
/
Revised: 2 July 2024
/
Accepted: 7 July 2024
/
Published: 19 July 2024
Abstract
The only fertility preservation and subsequent restoration option for many patients facing gonadotoxic treatments is ovarian tissue cryopreservation and transplantation. While this process is successful for some, there is significant room for improvement to extend the life of the transplant and to make it safe for patients that may have metastatic disease within their ovarian tissue. We need a deeper understanding of how the physical properties of the ovarian microenvironment may affect folliculogenesis to engineer an environment that supports isolated follicles and maintains primordial follicle quiescence. Bovine ovaries were used here as a monovulatory model of folliculogenesis to examine the effects of primordial follicle activation and growth under different physical conditions. We found that there were no differences in activation, growth or survival when primordial follicles were cultured in isolation or in situ (remaining in the tissue) under two significantly differently rigid alginate gels. To determine if the extra rigid environment did not affect activation in isolated follicles due to an immediate activation event, we used 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) to track follicle activation during the isolation process. We identified EdU incorporation in granulosa cells after primordial follicles were isolated from the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). These findings support that isolation of primordial follicles from the ECM is an activating event and that the differentially rigid environments assessed here had no effect on follicle growth. Further work is needed to suppress activation in primordial follicles to maintain the ovarian reserve and extend the life of an ovarian tissue transplant.
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MDPI and ACS Style
McElhinney, K.L.; Rowell, E.E.; Laronda, M.M.
Encapsulation of Bovine Primordial Follicles in Rigid Alginate Does Not Affect Growth Dynamics. Bioengineering 2024, 11, 734.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11070734
AMA Style
McElhinney KL, Rowell EE, Laronda MM.
Encapsulation of Bovine Primordial Follicles in Rigid Alginate Does Not Affect Growth Dynamics. Bioengineering. 2024; 11(7):734.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11070734
Chicago/Turabian Style
McElhinney, Kathryn L., Erin E. Rowell, and Monica M. Laronda.
2024. "Encapsulation of Bovine Primordial Follicles in Rigid Alginate Does Not Affect Growth Dynamics" Bioengineering 11, no. 7: 734.
https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11070734
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