Home
Old Eggs
,
research
,
stem-cell research
,
Too Old
Turning Back the Reproductive Clock
Catherine McDiarmid-Watt |
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 |
0
comments
Stock photo by IngerM
Scientific dogma has long asserted that females are born with their entire lifetime supply of eggs, and once they're gone, they're gone. New findings suggest that in nematode worms, at least, this is not necessarily so.
Molecular physiologist Marc Van Gilst, Ph.D., and colleagues at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle report that during starvation, sexually mature adult worms stop ovulating and the germline component of their reproductive system – the sex cells, including mature and maturing eggs – dies off and leaves behind nothing but a few stem cells.
However, once normal food conditions resume, the conserved stem cells can produce a brand new crop of sex cells, complete with youthful fertile eggs. This turning back of the reproductive clock took place in tiny C. elegans soil worms that were up to15 times older than worms in their reproductive prime that were fed normally.
Read more: http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=22233
Recent Keyword Searches: at what age does a woman unable to become pregnant naturally, how to get pregnant after 40, can a woman get pregnant after menopause, lunar conception calculator, kiwi fruit and miscarriages
Category:
Old Eggs,
research,
stem-cell research,
Too Old
About Catherine: I am mom to three grown sons, two grandchildren and two rescue dogs. After years of raising my boys as a single mom, I remarried a wonderful man who had never had a child of his own. Unexpectedly, I found myself pregnant at 49!
Sadly we lost that precious baby at 8 weeks, and decided to try again. Five more losses, turned down for donor egg, foster care and adoption due to my age and losses - we have accepted that there will be no more babies in our house.
Find Catherine on Google+ - Circle us on Google+ - Join us on Facebook - Follow us on Twitter
WE LOVE COMMENTS!
Don't just sit there, reading this story or article - say something! Do you believe it? Do you think it is impossible? Do you wish it was you? Do you have a story to share (it might get published!)
NOTE: Comments are moderated - just to stop the spambots - and so may take up to a few hours to be approved.
Catherine reserves the right to review, edit, refuse or delete any comment.
Popular Posts
-
Causes for low sperm count: • Infected semen • Tight underpants, bathing in very hot water, sitting for long hours, over weight in whi...
-
Reproductive Medicine Associates of Connecticut (RMACT) is launching GayParentsToBe.com , a website dedicated to helping same-sex couples ...
-
A simple way of establishing on which days in a woman's menstrual cycle she is fertile has been identified by US and Italian ferti...
-
Image via Wikipedia CHICAGO, June 18 (UPI) -- Fatherhood might be far from the minds of most young men, but their behavior when young can c...
-
A biologist at Wichita State University has made a breakthrough discovery about human reproductive hormones that scientists say could give ...
-
Picture by www.edmontonsun.com Use of birth control pill could be leading women by the nose If you've ever wondered "What the hel...
0 comments