ABSTRACT
AIM: The aim of the paper was to assess the natural pregnancy of rabbits submitted to bilateral oophorectomy and orthotopic autologous intact and sliced ovarian transplantation without a vascular pedicle and to determine the morphofunctional aspects of the reimplanted ovaries. METHODS: Thirty-two female New Zealand White rabbits were studied. The ovaries were removed and orthotopically replaced without vascular anastomosis. In Group 1 (n=8), only laparotomy and laparorrhaphy were performed. In Group 2A (n=8) intact ovaries were reimplanted on both sides. In Group 2B (n=8) both ovaries were sliced and orthotopically reimplanted. In Group 2C (n=8), an intact ovary was reimplanted on one side and a sliced ovary on the other side. Three months later, the animals were paired with sexually mature males for copulation. Estradiol, progesterone, follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone levels were assessed. A histologic study of the reimplanted ovaries, tubes and uterus was carried out, and the number of pregnancies and litters of each group were also determined. The chi squared test compared the number of successful pregnancies and the number of litters between the groups. One-way ANOVA and the Tukey-Kramer tests compared the hormonal dosages. The significance was for P <0.05. RESULTS: Pregnancies occurred in all rabbits of Group 1 between the 2(nd) and 3(rd) months after copulation, with 6 to 10 litters. In Group 2, pregnancies occurred between the 5(th) and 8(th) postoperative month. Pregnancies occurred in 37.5% of rabbits in Group 2A, and 50% in groups 2B and 2C. There was no difference in the number of litters between the reimplanted groups, with 1 to 4 litters per rabbit. Hormone levels and histology confirmed the vitality of all ovaries. CONCLUSION: Intact or sliced orthotopic autologous ovarian reimplantation without a vascular pedicle is viable in rabbits, and preserves their hormonal and fertile functions.
