Anti-aging Effect on Skin of Autologous Transplantation of Tissue Fragments from Thawed Cryopreserved Ovaries

Abstract

Transplanting the ovaries of young mice into menopausal mice has been shown to extend their lifespan, suggesting that the reproductive organs may play an important role in combating aging. Preventing skin aging is an extremely important matter with respect to maintaining quality of life, but little basic research has been carried out on this issue. The effects of treatment with cryopreserved ovarian tissue, tissue hormone therapy (THT), and hormone replacement therapy on inhibiting skin aging in experimental animals were investigated. The effects on skin elasticity and body weight changes in 6-week-old mice resulting from the transplantation of cryopreserved ovarian tissue were evaluated, as were the effects on skin of estrogen administration after bilateral oophorectomy or transplantation. Estrogen was secreted by mouse ovaries that had been frozen, thawed, and transplanted, and the estrus cycle was restored, but this was insufficient to have any effect on skin elasticity. After oophorectomy, the body weight of the mice increased, and their skin elasticity decreased. Estrogen administration after these changes had occurred neither restored skin elasticity nor suppressed body weight gain. However, when estrogen was continuously administered from immediately after oophorectomy, skin elasticity decreased transiently and then improved. If techniques for THT using cryopreserved ovaries to maintain the blood estrogen concentration above a specific level can be established, this might help to prevent or improve the deterioration of skin appearance in young women who require oophorectomy due to gynecological disease and also in childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer patients.