In vitro culture of red-rumped agouti preantral follicles enclosed in fresh and vitrified ovarian tissues using TCM199 plus different pFSH concentrations.

Considering the relevance of establishing biodiversity conservation tools, the study aimed to investigate the TCM199 supplemented with different follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) concentrations on survival and development of fresh and vitrified preantral follicles enclosed in red-rumped agouti ovarian tissues cultured in vitro . In the first experiment, six pairs of ovaries were fragmented and cultured for 6 days according to groups: 10 ng/mL pFSH (FSH10 group) and 50 ng/mL (FSH50 group). Non-cultured tissues were considered as a control. In the second experiment, vitrified/warmed fragments of four pairs of ovaries were cultured with the best concentration of FSH established (cryopreserved and cultured group). Non-cryopreserved (fresh control group) and cryopreserved but non-cultured (non-cultured group) tissues were used as controls. For both experiments, preantral follicles were evaluated for survival and development using morphological and viability analysis by trypan blue staining. After culturing fresh samples, FSH50 showed a higher percentage of morphologically normal follicles when compared to FSH10 (P < 0.05). This same response was observed for primordial follicles. Regardless of the concentrations of FSH used during in vitro culture, no difference was observed regarding the percentage of viable follicles and diameters (P > 0.05). Thus, the FSH50 group was used for second experiment, in which 76.2 ± 7.2% normal preantral follicles previously vitrified was found after 6-day culture, also presenting the highest values (P < 0.05) for morphology of primordial follicles (95.2 ± 4.7%). Nevertheless, in vitro culture did not affect the viability and diameter of preantral follicles of cryopreserved tissues (P > 0.05). In conclusion, TCM199 supplemented with 50 ng/mL FSH was efficient in maintaining the in vitro survival of fresh and vitrified red-rumped agouti preantral follicles. This was the first study related to the in vitro culture of ovarian preantral follicles in this species, aiming to contribute to its conservation.