1 research outputs found
Do Bioreactor Designs with More Efficient Oxygen Supply to Ovarian Cortical Tissue Fragments Enhance Follicle Viability and Growth In Vitro?
Background: Autotransplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue is currently the main
option to preserve fertility for cancer patients. To avoid cancer cell reintroduction at transplantation,
amulti-step culture systemhas been proposed to obtain fully competent oocytes for in vitro fertilization.
Current in vitro systems are limited by the low number and health of secondary follicles produced
during the first step culture of ovarian tissue fragments. To overcome such limitations, bioreactor designs
have been proposed to enhance oxygen supply to the tissue, with inconsistent results. This retrospective
study investigates, on theoretical grounds, whether the lack of a rational design of the proposed
bioreactors prevented the full exploitation of follicle growth potential. Methods: Models describing
oxygen transport in bioreactors and tissue were developed and used to predict oxygen availability
inside ovarian tissue in the pertinent literature. Results: The proposed theoretical analysis suggests
that a successful outcome is associated with enhanced oxygen availability in the cultured tissue in the
considered bioreactor designs. This suggests that a rational approach to bioreactor design for ovarian
tissue culture in vitro may help exploit tissue potential to support follicle growth