Introduction: One of the most famous endocrine diseases affecting female is Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). In regenerative medicine, stem cell-free therapy as conditioned media (CM), and exosomes (EX) represents alternate strategies in treatment of such cases. Angiogenesis was one of the hypothesis in progression of PCOS. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is cosidered an important marker for angiogenesis. Oct4 (Octamer-binding transcription factor) is one of the key transcription factors needed to produce induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) and induce angiogenesis.
Aim of the Work: To differentiate the expression of Oct4 and VEGF in ovaries of model of PCO after treatment with conditioned media (CM )and exosomes (EX).
Materials and Methods: Seventy albino rats; (12 adult male served as breeders, 10 rats were utilized to harvest CM and EX and 48 female rats were divided into 4 groups : The control group, the PCO group , the Ex-treated group and CM-treated group. Female rats were given oral letrozole (1 mg/ kg/day) once a day for 5 weeks to induce PCO. Biochemical analysis, histological , and immunohistochemistry for VEGF and Oct4 immune-expression have all been carried out. The fertility rate was evaluated.
Results: CM showed more significant therapeutic effects than EX in restoring the normal architecture of ovaries. Furthermore, female rats treated with CM showed significant higher fertility rate than those treated with EX.
Conclusion and Recommendation: A safer and more practical way for tissue regeneration is cell free therapy. The PCO model demonstrated that stem cell generated CM restored the histological structure of ovaries and fertility more effectively than EX. Although MSCS derived exosomes are effective in treatment of many diseases, they may have disadvantages of overstimulating angiogenesis. More studies are required for comparing CM and exosomes in different diseases models.