PURPOSE: to assess the natural pregnancy rates in rabbits submitted to bilateral oophorectomy and orthotopic autologous (both intact and sliced) ovarian transplantation without vascular pedicle and to verify the morphofunctional aspects of reimplanted ovaries. METHOD: thirty-two female New Zealand White rabbits were studied. The ovaries were removed and orthotopically replaced without vascular anastomosis. In the control group (GC) (n=8), only laparotomy was carried out. In the RI group (n=8) intact ovaries were reimplanted in both sides. In the RF group (n=8) the ovaries were sliced and orthotopically reimplanted. In the RIF group (n=8), in one side the intact ovary and in the other side the sliced ovary was reimplanted.Three months later, the animals were paired with sexually mature males for copulation. Estradiol, progesterone, follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone levels were assessed nine months after surgery. Histologic study of the transplanted ovaries, tubes and uteri was carried out, and the number of pregnancies and animals per litter in each group was taken into account as well. The chi² test compared the pregnancy and the litters between the groups. Student's t test compared the hormone determinations. Significance was set at p<0.05. RESULTS: pregnancies occurred in all rabbits of the GC, between the second and third months after copulation, with 6 to 10 animals per litter for animal. In the other groups, the pregnancies occurred between the fifth and eighth postoperative month. Pregnancies occurred in 37.5% of rabbits in group RI, and in 50% of the RF and RIF groups. There was no difference between the number of animals per litter in the reimplanted groups, with 1 to 4 animals per litter for each animal. Hormone levels and histology confirmed the vitality of all ovaries. CONCLUSIONS: intact or sliced orthotopic autologous ovarian transplantation without vascular pedicle is viable in rabbits, and preserves the hormonal and fertile functions.
Ovary; Ovarian transplantation; Ovarian graft; Inferlility
