One would think that if there is a
remnant of ovarian tissue in the spayed pet's abdomen, the surgeon must have left it behind.
The HFEA report had the same reason for opposing the use of fetuses, albeit in less emotive language: «The public... may feel an instinctive repugnance to the use
of ovarian tissue from these sources for research or fertility treatment.»
ONPRC researchers also have been investigating two ways of maturing follicles from cryopreserved, thawed tissue: transplanting
strips of ovarian tissue back into a monkey's body, or growing the tissue in vitro by encapsulating individual follicles in a biomaterial that mimics an ovary.
These claims were based on subjective
observations of ovarian tissue and on the behavior of extremely rare ovarian cells following extensive growth in tissue culture, a procedure that is capable of «reprogramming» cells.
A HUMAN ovary grown in the lab from
slivers of ovarian tissue has been able to turn an immature egg into one that is ready to be fertilised.
Recently Kutluk Oktay, the chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, has been experimenting with freezing and transplanting
swatches of ovarian tissue.
Girls with cancer who haven't hit puberty don't yet produce mature eggs that can be frozen, so some choose to preserve a small
piece of ovarian tissue, which can later be placed back in the body to start making eggs.