In a healthy body, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidants remain balanced. When
the balance is broken toward an overabundance of ROS, oxidative stress appears and may …

Mammalian eggs (oocytes) are formed during fetal life and establish associations with
somatic cells to form primordial follicles that create a store of germ cells (the primordial pool) …

BACKGROUND Regulated cell death is a fundamental component of numerous
physiological processes; spanning from organogenesis in utero, to normal cell turnover …

Mammalian ovaries consist of follicles as basic functional units. The total number of ovarian
follicles is determined early in life, and the depletion of this pool leads to reproductive …

Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is one form of female infertility, defined by loss of
ovarian activity before the age of 40 and characterized by amenorrhea (primary or …

In many organisms, early germline development takes place within cysts of interconnected
cells that form by incomplete cytokinesis and later undergo programmed breakdown. We …

Premature ovarian failure (POF) causing hypergonadotrophic hypogonadism occurs in 1%
of women. In majority of cases the underlying cause is not identified. The known causes …

Cell death was first described in rabbit ovaries (Graaffian follicles), the phenomenon being
called 'chromatolysis' rather than apoptosis. In humans, the ovarian endowment of …

Apoptosis causes elimination of more than 99% of germ cells from cohort of ovary through
follicular atresia. Less than 1% of germ cells, which are culminated in oocytes further …

Abstract In the USA alone,> 650 000 women will be afflicted by cancer in 2003, and 8% of
these cases will be aged< 40 years. Due to improvements in cancer therapy, cure rates of …