Received July 10, 2008
Accepted July 27, 2008

One of the major problems against reproductive medicine is the incapacity of oocyte preservation. In these cases, ovary preservation could restore hormonal e fertility capacity. Objective: Assess the ovarian function after removal of the ovaries, cryopreservation and intraperitoneal autotransplantation. Materials/Methods: Prospective experimental study involving 67 Holtzman rats randomized to one of the three groups: Group 1 (20) bilateral oopherectomy, Group 2 (24) shame operation, Group 3 (23) cryopreserved ovarian autotransplantation group. The rats in Group 3 had frozen/thawed ovaries replaced to the peritoneum 10 days after freezing with DMSO. Daily vaginal cytology was performed for 10 days starting 7 days after surgery in group 1 and 2, and 15 days after surgery in group 3. Histologic examination of the transplanted frozen/thawed ovarian tissue was performed in all cycling animals 40 days following transplantation. Results: In group 1 none of the animal showed cytologic alterations compatible with estrus. All animals in group 2 were considered as having hormone secretion. Cytologic examination of vaginal smears from group 3 revealed 21 animals with the normal cycle (91.3%). Morphologic study of the ovaries showed no ischemic or inflammatory alterations and all ovaries showed follicles in different stages of maturation, i.e., viable primordial, antral follicles and corpus luteum. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that frozen/thawed ovaries transplanted to the peritoneum without vascular anastomosis in rats preserve endocrine and reproductive functions.