Category
Three-Minute Thesis
Description
Fertility preservation techniques such as ovarian tissue cryopreservation and autotransplantation provide important options for patients at risk of primary ovarian insufficiency due to medical treatments or disease. A critical step in this process is the preparation of uniform ovarian cortical slices (0.5–1.5 mm thick) that preserve follicular architecture prior to cryopreservation. However, the discontinuation of the Stadie-Riggs tissue slicer, previously used for fresh tissue slicing, has created a significant gap in both translational research and clinical practice. To address this need, a compact manual ovarian tissue slicer was designed and constructed using biocompatible 316L stainless steel and borosilicate glass. The device is compatible with disposable surgical blades and can be sterilized through autoclaving or ethylene oxide gas, making it suitable for research and clinical environments. To evaluate the device, bovine ovaries obtained from a local slaughterhouse were processed to isolate the ovarian cortex. Portions of tissue were fixed immediately as unsliced controls, while the remaining cortex was sliced into approximately 1 mm sections using the device. Tissue slices were divided into fresh controls or subjected to cryopreservation followed by warming. All samples were fixed, paraffin-embedded, sectioned, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin for histological evaluation. The slicer consistently produced uniform cortical slices with preserved ovarian morphology. Histological analysis demonstrated intact primordial, primary, and secondary follicles with minimal mechanical disruption, comparable to unsliced tissue and consistent with outcomes reported in large-animal cryopreservation studies. These findings demonstrate that the manual slicer can reliably generate high-quality ovarian cortical slices, providing a reproducible and accessible tool that may advance fertility preservation research and support future clinical applications.
Manual Tissue Slicer Designed for Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation
Three-Minute Thesis
Fertility preservation techniques such as ovarian tissue cryopreservation and autotransplantation provide important options for patients at risk of primary ovarian insufficiency due to medical treatments or disease. A critical step in this process is the preparation of uniform ovarian cortical slices (0.5–1.5 mm thick) that preserve follicular architecture prior to cryopreservation. However, the discontinuation of the Stadie-Riggs tissue slicer, previously used for fresh tissue slicing, has created a significant gap in both translational research and clinical practice. To address this need, a compact manual ovarian tissue slicer was designed and constructed using biocompatible 316L stainless steel and borosilicate glass. The device is compatible with disposable surgical blades and can be sterilized through autoclaving or ethylene oxide gas, making it suitable for research and clinical environments. To evaluate the device, bovine ovaries obtained from a local slaughterhouse were processed to isolate the ovarian cortex. Portions of tissue were fixed immediately as unsliced controls, while the remaining cortex was sliced into approximately 1 mm sections using the device. Tissue slices were divided into fresh controls or subjected to cryopreservation followed by warming. All samples were fixed, paraffin-embedded, sectioned, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin for histological evaluation. The slicer consistently produced uniform cortical slices with preserved ovarian morphology. Histological analysis demonstrated intact primordial, primary, and secondary follicles with minimal mechanical disruption, comparable to unsliced tissue and consistent with outcomes reported in large-animal cryopreservation studies. These findings demonstrate that the manual slicer can reliably generate high-quality ovarian cortical slices, providing a reproducible and accessible tool that may advance fertility preservation research and support future clinical applications.
