Alginate scaffold for organ culture of cryopreserved-thawed human ovarian cortical follicles

Purpose To compare macroporous alginate scaffolds with Matrigel for culturing frozen-thawed human primordial follicles in organ culture. Methods Twelve girls/women donated ovarian tissue. One tissue sample was fixed immediately after thawing (uncultured samples). Slices were cultured for 2 weeks on either Matrigel or on alginate scaffolds with a serum-free culture medium. Growth evaluation consisted of follicular counts and classification, immunohistochemistry and measurement of 17 beta-Estradiol (E(2)) production. Results The number of developing follicles was significantly higher in alginate scaffold-cultured samples than on Matrigel with a concomitant decrease in the number of primordial follicles in alginate scaffold-cultured samples than uncultured samples. The number of atretic follicles after 1 week was significantly higher in the Matrigel-cultured samples than in the alginate scaffold cultured samples. E(2) production was similar in both groups. Conclusions Three dimensional alginate scaffolds are a promising putative in vitro technology for developing human primordial follicles.