Amaral Marcello Magri, Sun Aixia, Li Yilin, Ren Chao, Truong Anh Blue, Nigam Saumya, Jiao Zexu, Wang Ping, Zhou Chao
Biomedical Engineering Department, Washington University in St Louis, 1 Brookings Dr, St Louis, MO, USA.
Universidade Brasil, Rua Carolina Fonseca 235, Sao Paulo, SP, BR.
bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 23:2023.01.23.525192. doi: 10.1101/2023.01.23.525192.
Ovarian tissue cryopreservation has been successfully applied worldwide for fertility preservation. Correctly selecting the ovarian tissue with high follicle loading for freezing and reimplantation increases the likelihood of restoring ovarian function, but it is a challenging process. In this work, we explore the use of three-dimensional spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) to identify different follicular stages, especially primary follicles, compare the identifications with H&E images, and measure the size and age-related follicular density distribution differences in mice ovaries. We use the thickness of the layers of granulosa cells to differentiate primordial and primary follicles from secondary follicles. The measured dimensions and age-related follicular distribution agree well with histological images and physiological aging. Finally, we apply attenuation coefficient map analyses to significantly improve the image contrast and the contrast-to-noise ratio (p < 0.001), facilitating follicle identification and quantification. We conclude that SD-OCT is a promising method to noninvasively evaluate ovarian follicles.
卵巢组织冷冻保存已在全球范围内成功应用于生育力保存。正确选择具有高卵泡负荷的卵巢组织进行冷冻和再植入可增加恢复卵巢功能的可能性，但这是一个具有挑战性的过程。在这项工作中，我们探索使用三维光谱域光学相干断层扫描（SD-OCT）来识别不同的卵泡阶段，特别是初级卵泡，将识别结果与苏木精-伊红（H&E）图像进行比较，并测量小鼠卵巢中卵泡的大小以及与年龄相关的卵泡密度分布差异。我们利用颗粒细胞层的厚度来区分原始卵泡和初级卵泡与次级卵泡。所测量的尺寸以及与年龄相关的卵泡分布与组织学图像和生理衰老情况吻合良好。最后，我们应用衰减系数图分析来显著提高图像对比度和对比噪声比（p < 0.001），便于卵泡的识别和量化。我们得出结论，SD-OCT是一种无创评估卵巢卵泡的有前景的方法。
