Premature ovarian failure (POF) is a major side effect of chemotherapy in young cancer patients. To develop pharmaceutical agents for preserving fertility, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms responsible for chemotherapy-induced follicle loss. Here, we show that treatment with cisplatin, a widely used anticancer drug, depleted the dormant follicle pool in mouse ovaries by excessive act...

Ovarian follicles are the basic functional units of female reproduction in the mammalian ovary. We show here that the protein a disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain 10 (ADAM10), a cell surface sheddase, plays an indispensable role in controlling primordial follicle formation by regulating the recruitment of follicle supporting cells in mice. We demonstrate that suppressing ADAM10 in vitro o...

We report on the use of AI techniques – including image analysis, feature recognition, machine learning and constraint satisfaction – applied to the problem of determining the population of primordial follicles in a human ovary. We highlight the importance of accurate population data for studies that aim to predict the age of menopause in healthy women, and for studies that quantify damage to o...

BACKGROUND The human ovary contains a fixed number of primordial follicles that decreases bi-exponentially with age, culminating in the menopause at an average age of 50-51 years. There currently is no reliable test of ovarian reserve for individual women that will accurately predict their remaining reproductive lifespan. METHODS AND RESULTS We use the Faddy-Gosden model of human primordial f...

Female fertility is determined in part by the size and development of the primordial follicle pool. The current study investigates the role of glial cell-line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in the regulation of primordial follicle development in the ovary. Ovaries from 4-day-old female rat pups were maintained in organ culture for 10 days in the absence (control) or presence of GDNF or kit ...

BACKGROUND A suitable culture system is important for follicle growth in adult bovine ovarian tissue. This study aimed to assess the avian chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) for short-term culture of adult bovine ovarian tissues compared with a traditional in vitro culture system. METHODS Ovarian cortical tissues (1-2 mm3), collected from slaughtered adult cows, were randomly assigned to control,...

The ovary contains a pool of primordial follicles containing oocytes arrested in meiosis that are the source of developing follicles for the female. Growth and differentiation factor-9 (GDF-9) is a member of the transforming growth factor beta superfamily of growth factors, and follicles of GDF-9 knockout mice arrest in the primary stage of development. The effect of GDF-9 treatment on the prim...

Introduction:Artifical sourace of radiation have increased worldwide average annual exposure of mankind and could especially affect rapidly dividing cells in gonads. Since, radiation sensitivities of different components of primordial follicles, and the time required for their deplation have not been morphologically eatablished we decided to estimate the time required for depletion of primordi...

The growth and development of follicles within the ovary are highly dependent on autocrine and paracrine signaling involving growth factors from granulosa cells, theca cells, stromal interstitial cells, and the oocytes. The growth factor bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) and its receptor (BMPR-IB) have been detected in ovaries, and a mutation in BMPR-IB has been associated with abnormal ovul...

Under the influence of the AMH formed in the Sertoli cells, the Mullerian ducts degenerate in male fetuses. This leads to the normal development of the male genitals. Female fetuses do not have AMH, and so develop the internal female genital organs. In women, at the onset of puberty AMH, like inhibin B, is formed by the granulosa cells of the maturing ovarian follicle, but not by the primordial...