Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Jul;27(6):969-74.
doi: 10.1071/RD14461.

Oogonial stem cells as a model to study age-associated infertility in women

Neha Garg  1 , David A Sinclair  1
Affiliations
Review

Oogonial stem cells as a model to study age-associated infertility in women

Neha Garg et al. Reprod Fertil Dev. 2015 Jul.

Abstract

Fertility is the first biological process to break down during aging, thereby making it a useful tool to understand fundamental processes of aging. Reproductive aging in females is associated with a loss of ovarian function characterised by a reduction in the number and quality of oocytes. The central dogma, namely that females are born with a fixed pool of oocytes that progressively decline with increasing maternal age, has been challenged by evidence supporting postnatal oogenesis in mammals. Reports demonstrating formation of new oocytes from newly discovered germline stem cells, referred to as oogonial stem cells (OSCs), has opened new avenues for treatment of female infertility. In this review we discuss why the OSCs possibly lose their regenerative potential over time, and focus specifically on the aging process in germline stem cells as a possible mechanism for understanding female age-related infertility and how we can slow or delay ovarian aging.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Anderson EL, Baltus AE, Roepers-Gajadien HL, Hassold TJ, de Rooij DG, van Pelt AM, Page DC. Stra8 and its inducer, retinoic acid, regulate meiotic initiation in both spermatogenesis and oogenesis in mice. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 2008;105:14976–14980. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Angelo G, Van Gilst MR. Starvation protects germline stem cells and extends reproductive longevity in C. elegans. Science. 2009;326:954–958. - PubMed
    1. Balasch J. Ageing and infertility: an overview. Gynecol. Endocrinol. 2010;26:855–860. - PubMed
    1. Baltus AE, Menke DB, Hu YC, Goodheart ML, Carpenter AE, de Rooij DG, Page DC. In germ cells of mouse embryonic ovaries, the decision to enter meiosis precedes premeiotic DNA replication. Nat. Genet. 2006;38:1430–1434. - PubMed
    1. Bentov Y, Yavorska T, Esfandiari N, Jurisicova A, Casper RF. The contribution of mitochondrial function to reproductive aging. J. Assist. Reprod. Genet. 2011;28:773–783. - PMC - PubMed