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Human Ovarian Reserve from Conception to the Menopause

Overview of attention for article published in PLOS ONE, January 2010
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Title
Human Ovarian Reserve from Conception to the Menopause
Published in
PLOS ONE, January 2010
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0008772
Pubmed ID
Authors

W. Hamish B. Wallace, Thomas W. Kelsey

Abstract

The human ovary contains a fixed number of non-growing follicles (NGFs) established before birth that decline with increasing age culminating in the menopause at 50-51 years. The objective of this study is to model the age-related population of NGFs in the human ovary from conception to menopause. Data were taken from eight separate quantitative histological studies (n = 325) in which NGF populations at known ages from seven weeks post conception to 51 years (median 32 years) were calculated. The data set was fitted to 20 peak function models, with the results ranked by obtained r2 correlation coefficient. The highest ranked model was chosen. Our model matches the log-adjusted NGF population from conception to menopause to a five-parameter asymmetric double Gaussian cumulative (ADC) curve (r2 = 0.81). When restricted to ages up to 25 years, the ADC curve has r2 = 0.95. We estimate that for 95% of women by the age of 30 years only 12% of their maximum pre-birth NGF population is present and by the age of 40 years only 3% remains. Furthermore, we found that the rate of NGF recruitment towards maturation for most women increases from birth until approximately age 14 years then decreases towards the menopause. To our knowledge, this is the first model of ovarian reserve from conception to menopause. This model allows us to estimate the number of NGFs present in the ovary at any given age, suggests that 81% of the variance in NGF populations is due to age alone, and shows for the first time, to our knowledge, that the rate of NGF recruitment increases from birth to age 14 years then declines with age until menopause. An increased understanding of the dynamics of human ovarian reserve will provide a more scientific basis for fertility counselling for both healthy women and those who have survived gonadotoxic cancer treatments.

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Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 5 <1%
United States 3 <1%
France 2 <1%
Zimbabwe 1 <1%
Australia 1 <1%
Norway 1 <1%
Ukraine 1 <1%
Turkey 1 <1%
Japan 1 <1%
Other 1 <1%
Unknown 533 97%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 85 15%
Student > Master 72 13%
Student > Bachelor 67 12%
Researcher 45 8%
Student > Doctoral Student 42 8%
Other 114 21%
Unknown 125 23%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 205 37%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 68 12%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 50 9%
Psychology 15 3%
Nursing and Health Professions 13 2%
Other 55 10%
Unknown 144 26%