DesertFox
03-13-2004, 04:10 PM
For more than half a century, the medical textbooks have said that women are born with a fixed number of eggs, and the supply eventually runs out in middle age. But new research on mice suggests that may not be the case after all.
Scientists say they have found stem cells in mouse ovaries that apparently generate new eggs well into adulthood.
If similar cells are found in women, they could lead to treatments to postpone menopause or restore fertility, either in older women or in women who have suffered infertility as a side effect from cancer treatment.
"If these findings hold up in humans, all theories about female fertility and the aging of the reproductive system will have to be revisited," said reproductive biologist Jonathan Tilly of Massachusetts General Hospital, who directed the mouse experiments.
More (http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2004/mar/10/031002355.html)
Scientists say they have found stem cells in mouse ovaries that apparently generate new eggs well into adulthood.
If similar cells are found in women, they could lead to treatments to postpone menopause or restore fertility, either in older women or in women who have suffered infertility as a side effect from cancer treatment.
"If these findings hold up in humans, all theories about female fertility and the aging of the reproductive system will have to be revisited," said reproductive biologist Jonathan Tilly of Massachusetts General Hospital, who directed the mouse experiments.
More (http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2004/mar/10/031002355.html)