Egg infertility is a predisposition to miscarriages, infertility, and trisomic pregnancies caused by declining egg quality and increased frequency of chromosome segregation errors in the eggs of women of advanced maternal age (AMA). Egg infertility is now a significant public health issue, with 1 in 5 US women now attempting her first pregnancy after age 35. Increased rates of egg infertility temporally coincide with rising levels of FSH that occur with age. By age 42, up to 87% of embryos are aneuploid, and 40-50% of women experience egg infertility.
Papers in the series will be comprised of data drawn from studies performed both in animals and in humans. Part I will discuss endocrine and other molecular changes implicated in the pathogenesis of declining egg quality, increased oocyte aneuploidy, and infertility in AMA women. The first section of Part I will discuss defects that emerge with age in controlling the fidelity of meiotic oocyte chromosome segregation apparatus and other molecular machinery. The second section of Part I will discuss the impact of the molecular environment of the oocyte as a determinant of declining egg quality and elevated oocyte and fetal aneuploidy with age.
Part II will discuss emerging strategies for improving egg quality and increasing rates of euploid AMA pregnancies and healthy liveborns in AMA women. The first Section of Part II will present recent advances in therapeutic preimplantation genetic selection (PGS) of euploid embryos. The second Section of Part II will discuss emerging therapeutic interventions for improving egg quality, preventing AMA oocyte and fetal aneuploidy, and increasing pregnancy and livebirth rates.
Egg infertility is a predisposition to miscarriages, infertility, and trisomic pregnancies caused by declining egg quality and increased frequency of chromosome segregation errors in the eggs of women of advanced maternal age (AMA). Egg infertility is now a significant public health issue, with 1 in 5 US women now attempting her first pregnancy after age 35. Increased rates of egg infertility temporally coincide with rising levels of FSH that occur with age. By age 42, up to 87% of embryos are aneuploid, and 40-50% of women experience egg infertility.
Papers in the series will be comprised of data drawn from studies performed both in animals and in humans. Part I will discuss endocrine and other molecular changes implicated in the pathogenesis of declining egg quality, increased oocyte aneuploidy, and infertility in AMA women. The first section of Part I will discuss defects that emerge with age in controlling the fidelity of meiotic oocyte chromosome segregation apparatus and other molecular machinery. The second section of Part I will discuss the impact of the molecular environment of the oocyte as a determinant of declining egg quality and elevated oocyte and fetal aneuploidy with age.
Part II will discuss emerging strategies for improving egg quality and increasing rates of euploid AMA pregnancies and healthy liveborns in AMA women. The first Section of Part II will present recent advances in therapeutic preimplantation genetic selection (PGS) of euploid embryos. The second Section of Part II will discuss emerging therapeutic interventions for improving egg quality, preventing AMA oocyte and fetal aneuploidy, and increasing pregnancy and livebirth rates.
