Anhydrous preservation is a promising approach for storage of living biomaterials at nonfreezing temperatures. Using the domestic cat model, the objectives of this study were to characterize changes in histology, DNA integrity, and viability of testicular tissues from adult versus prepubertal individuals during microwave-assisted drying. Testes from each age group were cut into small pieces before reversible membrane permeabilization, exposure to trehalose, and microwave-assisted drying during different time periods. In Experiment 1, water content was monitored for up to 40 minutes of drying. Tissues from adult or prepubertal cats experienced similar decreases of water content during the first 10 minutes. Desiccation progressed slowly between 10 and 20 minutes and then remained stable. In Experiment 2, structural properties were explored at 5, 10, and 20 minutes of desiccation. Percentages of normal seminiferous tubules were lower after 20 minutes drying in adult (43%) than in prepubertal tissues (61%). At the same time point, the proportion of cell degeneration was higher in adult (53%) than prepubertal tissues (28%). Percentages of intact DNA in tissues remained above 85% regardless of the microwave time in both age groups. Lastly, adult and prepubertal tissues only lost 33% of viability in both age groups. Collective results demonstrated for the first time that normal morphology, incidence of degeneration, DNA integrity, and viability of testicular tissues remained at acceptable levels during microwave-assisted drying for 20 minutes. Overall, prepubertal testicular tissues appeared to be more resilient to microwave-assisted desiccations than adult tissues. Importantly, water loss in the presence of trehalose after 20 minutes of desiccation already is compatible with long-term storage of testicular tissues at temperatures above −20°C, which is one step closer to future storage at supra-zero temperatures.

中文翻译：

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微波辅助干燥对成年和青春期前家猫睾丸组织结构完整性和活力的影响。

无水保存是一种在非冷冻温度下储存活生物材料的有前途的方法。使用家猫模型，本研究的目的是表征在微波辅助干燥过程中成人与青春期前个体的睾丸组织的组织学、DNA 完整性和活力的变化。在不同时间段进行可逆膜透化、暴露于海藻糖和微波辅助干燥之前，将每个年龄组的睾丸切成小块。在实验 1 中，在长达 40 分钟的干燥过程中监测水含量。成年或青春期前猫的组织在前 10 分钟内经历了类似的含水量下降。干燥在 10 到 20 分钟之间缓慢进行，然后保持稳定。在实验 2 中，在 5、10、和 20 分钟的干燥。成人干燥 20 分钟后正常生精小管的百分比 (43%) 低于青春期前组织 (61%)。同时，成人细胞变性的比例（53%）高于青春期前组织（28%）。无论微波时间如何，两个年龄组的组织中完整 DNA 的百分比都保持在 85% 以上。最后，成人和青春期前组织在两个年龄组中仅失去了 33% 的活力。集体结果首次证明，在微波辅助干燥 20 分钟期间，睾丸组织的正常形态、变性发生率、DNA 完整性和活力保持在可接受的水平。总体而言，青春期前睾丸组织似乎比成人组织对微波辅助干燥更有弹性。重要的，