Fig. 1
Experimental design. Frozen-thawed human ovarian cortex tissue from 4 patients was used in the experiment. Sixty-four mice were randomly distributed in 4 groups: (i) 16 mice undergoing OT without HucMSCs (OT group), (ii) 16 mice undergoing OT with 2 × 106 normoxic-treated HucMSCs (N-MSCs + OT group), (iii) 16 mice undergoing OT with 2 × 106 hypoxic-treated HucMSCs (H-MSCs + OT group), (iv) 16 mice undergoing bilateral oophorectomy but without OT (Sham-operated group). The ovarian cortex tissue from each patient (n = 4) was divided randomly into the OT, N-MSCs + OT, H-MSCs + OT groups, and non-grafted group. The SCID mice were euthanized for blood and graft retrieval on post-transplantation days 3 (n = 8) and 7 (n = 8), respectively. The ovarian tissue samples were evaluated by HE, TUNEL, IHC, WB, and ROS, TAC. The blood samples were assessed for E2, FSH, Prog, and AMH. Sham, sham-operated; OT, ovarian tissue transplantation; HucMSCs, human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells. N-MSCs + OT, normoxic-treated HucMSCs, and ovarian tissue co-transplantation. H-MSCs + OT, hypoxia-treated HucMSCs, and ovarian tissue co-transplantation; HE, haematoxylin and eosin; TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labelling; IHC, immunohistochemistry; WB, western blot; ROS, reactive oxygen species; TAC, total antioxidant capacity; E2, 17 β-estradiol; FSH, follicle-stimulating hormone; Prog, progesterone; AMH, anti-Müllerian hormone