Melatonin Effect on Immature Mouse Testicular Tissues, Vitrified-Thawed With Different Cryoprotectant Media

Abstract

Background: Freezing of the immature testis tissue and then its transplantation can be considered a major step in fertility preservation for young boys with cancer. Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the antioxidant effects of melatonin on histological structure of seminiferous tubules that were vitrified-thawed with different cryoprotectant media. Materials and Methods: Male mice were randomly assigned to one of 10 experimental groups. Testes of 6-day-old BALB/c male mice pups were extracted and vitrified-thawed with different vitrification media with melatonin and without melatonin. Then, their testes were stained with haematoxylin-eosin. Results: The result showed that supplementation of glycerol based media with melatonin has reduced injury to histological structure of seminiferous tubules in the 6-day-old male BALB/c mice pups testes (P = 0.004). Conclusions: It seem that melatonin due to its antioxidant properties, if added to glycerol based media, reduces the harmful effects of freezing-thawing process, and protects seminiferous tubules histological structure from oxidative injury.