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After translocation into the vaginal vault while attached to a pedicle consisting of the infundibulo-pelvic ligament, the ovary was found to maintain its function in laboratory primates. In the majority of the baboons the ovulatory pattern returned within a few weeks after the surgical procedure. The only significant complication was a transitory, and self-limited, infection which was evident on inspection and on the biopsy specimens, but caused no clinical symptoms. By comparing the surgical outcome in two primate species, namely Papio Cynocephalus and Macaca Arctoides, it could be deduced that the Homo Sapiens would be a more suitable experimental model than either of the laboratory primates used in this research. Because there are potentially effective methods for reducing the likelihood of postoperative infection in the relocated ovary, the experience gained by this new method suggests the possibility that it could be utilized in the future for the purpose of collecting ova for in vitro fertilization in carefully selected, and otherwise untreatable, cases of female sterility.

Experimental data indicate that the time and mechanism of ovulation play a significant role in some cases of infertility and in a broad range of reproductive abnormalities. In order to establish a new experimental model for the study of these phenomena in primates, transposition of the ovary from the pelvis into the vaginal fornix was attempted in 2 species of monkeys: (a) Macaca Arctoides and (b) Papio Cynocephalus. Particularly in the latter species, ovarian relocation into the anterior and the posterior vaginal fornices proved feasible. Most ovaries continued functioning in their new location during the 2-5 months of the follow-up, despite macroscopic and microscopic evidence of infection. Post mortem examination of one of the experimental animals several years after the surgical procedure revealed the presence of an intact functioning ovary still in close contact with the vaginal fornix.