Doctors have long used frozen pieces of ovary tissue to reconstruct ovaries damaged by chemotherapy or other ovarian failure, allowing affected women to conceive and have children.
But now, Israeli scientists say they have successfully transplanted whole frozen and thawed ovaries in sheep, produced eggs from these ovaries, and then triggered them in the laboratory into early embryonic development.
According to lead author Amir Arav, a senior scientist at the Institute of Animal Science, Agriculture Research Organization, these results show that it is possible to remove, freeze, thaw and replace ovaries, obtain eggs and maintain normal ovarian function.
Arav’s team used sheep because their ovaries are similar to those of humans.
The approach offers new hope for using this method in women facing premature ovarian failure. In addition, freezing organs may be useful for other types of lifesaving human organ transplants, which are currently done using only fresh organs, the researchers noted.