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This diagram shows three techniques used in in-vitro culture of ovarian tissue; culture of ovarian fragments in a floating organ culture system, individual follicle culture of enzymatically digested/ minced ovarian follicles, and perfusion whole ovary in a flow-through system.

Uses of Ovarian Culture Techniques

Current and Future Applications of ovarian culture techniques include: (“Pre-antral Follicle Culture in Mammalian Reproductive Biotechnology”)

• IVF and the production of embryos
• Research of signalling pathways and stem cell research
• Toxicological studies
• Fertility preservation of young patients

Toxicological Studies

At present research within the field of reproductive toxicology is principally carried out in vivo, however new culture methods have been developed with the aim of allowing ovarian follicles to be grown in vitro. These new methods allow us to culture isolated ovarian follicles, embryos, ovaries (whole organ or only part of the tissue), and embryonic stem cells. Ovarian cultures are useful to research as they can allow us to replicate systematic follicle development, periodical ovulation, and follicle atresia in an environment with modulated culture conditions. The ability of in vitro ovarian cultures to detect damage to the ovary and its specialised structures of the follicles and oocytes, allows for faster screening of potential developmental and/or reproductive toxicants. Therefore, ovarian culture systems have become increasingly widely used in reproductive biology and toxicology.

Culture of the whole ovary or ovarian fragments allows evaluation of various parameters in a controlled way and, therefore, has the potential for more complete reproductive toxicity studies. A big advantage of ovarian culture is the ability to evaluate the effect of drugs on the pool of primordial follicles that make up the ovarian reserve. However, this strategy is restricted regarding the duration of culture time, as short periods may not be sufficient to ensure follicular development. On the contrary, cells may be negatively affected by longer periods of culture.

Most in vitro toxicology studies use female mice and rat models. These species have been selected to assess the adverse effects of drugs on reproductive function and fertility, due to ease of handling and small size. Additionally, these species have been well characterised; anatomically, physiologically, and genetically. Their short life cycles make it convenient to assess gestation, breastfeeding, and puberty. The relevance of animal studies for toxicological risk assessment in heterogeneous human populations remains undetermined as it is unknown if the results obtained can be extrapolated to humans.