(The Center Square) – Girls are born with a million small structures called primordial follicles . Each of these contains an egg cell. As girls grow and develop, most of these follicles die, and each month, just one follicle typically ovulates a mature egg.
“When the loss of primordial follicles is nearly complete, and only hundreds remain, women experience menopause, a time when menstrual cycles have ceased for 12 months,” a release from the University of Utah said.
New research, which uses a model developed by a University of Utah mathematician, contends that it may be possible to delay the onset of menopause indefinitely by removing and then implanting a woman’s ovarian tissue back into her over and over again. The technique has been used to help restore fertility in cancer patients, according to Sean Lawley , associate professor of mathematics and co-author of a study published earlier this month in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The work is a collaboration between Lawley, University of Colorado School of Medicine ovarian biologist Joshua Johnson ; Yale University professor of statistics and data science Jay Emerson; and Yale School of Medicine physician and professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences and ovarian biologist Kutluk Oktay .