Detrimental Effect of Phenol Red on the Vitrification of Cat (Felis catus) Ovarian Tissue

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different media with or without phenol red or the antioxidant trolox on the successful vitrification of feline ovarian tissue. In a first experiment, ovarian cortical pieces from three cats were vitrified in solutions of Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI)-1640 medium, Minimum Essential Medium, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium, or Tissue Culture Medium 199 as basic medium, supplemented or not with 50 μM of trolox, all containing 40% ethylene glycol (EG) and 1 M of sucrose. RPMI-1640 (phenol red–free) without trolox was the only medium that preserved the percentage of morphologically normal preantral follicles similar to control (80%). The main difference between RPMI-1640 and the other media was the absence of phenol red and CaCl2. In a second experiment, ovarian cortical pieces from three cats were vitrified in a solution containing RPMI-1640 as basic medium, 40% EG, 1 M of sucrose, supplemented or not with phenol red or CaCl2 alone, or in comb...