Summary. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of cooling ovarian tissue on camel pre-antral follicles. Ovaries were maintained in saline solution (0.9%) at 4 or 20°C for 6, 12 18 or 24 h. After storage, COCs were recovered from dromedary ovaries and were morphologically and viability evaluated by trypan blue exclusion test. The percentage of morphologically normal and live growing follicles was significantly reduced in ovarian tissue stored at 20°C for 12, 18 or 24 h. To assessment the viability of stored follicles, morphologically normal and live COCs isolated from ovaries stored at 4°C for 24 h and at 20°C for 6 h were in vitro matured (IVM) in TCM 199 + 10 μg/ml FSH + 10 IU hCG/ml + 10% FCS + 50 μg/ml gentamycin. COCs were incubated for 30 h at 38.5°C under 5% CO2 in humidified air. Follicles stored in either condition presented the same growth pattern in vitro as fresh follicles. We conclude that storage of camel ovaries at 4°C for up to 24 h or at 20°C for up to 6 h did not affect the morphology of growing follicles or their ability to mature in vitro.

Key words: camel, viability, pre-antral follicles, storage, 4ºC