For women to be fertile during most of their lives it is important that the great majority of their primary follicles lie ‘dormant’ or inactive in the ovaries. Menopause occurs when all of the primary follicles have reached maturity and no more eggs are available for ovulation. The mechanisms that control the early activation of these dormant follicles, that is, when they are stimulate to begin to grow and mature, have been unknown until now.
Kui Liu’s research team at the Department of Medical Chemistry and Biophysics, UmeĆ„ University, can now show that the activation of follicles is governed by the signaling path PTEN-PI3K. In a mouse model where the gene that codes for the PTEN protein is inactivated specifically in egg cells, all follicles are activated prematurely and the ovary is emptied of all eggs at a young age. In a possibly similar manner the ovaries are emptied of their eggs in women who suffer from the disease premature ovarian failure (POF), which leads to the onset of menopause much earlier than normal.
This discovery is believed to be of broad physiological, clinical, and practical significance. Previously it has not been possible to use inactive primary follicles for in vitro fertilization, since it has not been possible to get them to mature when they are cultured in a laboratory. Besides the fact that these findings enhance our knowledge of what governs the length of a woman’s period of fertility, the results may also make it possible in the future to activate the maturation and grown of primary follicles in test tubes. This means that the supply of follicles for in vitro fertilization would be greater.
This would be the case not only for humans but also for pets, cattle, and threatened animal species. The discoveries are therefore important not only for the health of women but also for enhancing the fertility of animals in agriculture and for the possibility of saving animal species that are threatened with extinction and having trouble reproducing.
High resolution portrait pictures of Kui Liu are available from
http://www.umu.se/medfak/aktuellt/bilder/index.html
The entire article is available here:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/319/5863/611
The editors of Science have also written a news article about the discovery here:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/319/5863/558b
For more information, please contact Kui Liu at e-mail: kui.liu@medchem.umu.se, phone: +46 (0)90-786 77 62; or cell phone: +46 (0)73-620 50 64.
8 December, 2021 - UmeƄ universitet
Asymmetric sex chromosomes were independently shaped during evolution in many species, and different strategies evolved alongside to overcome the resulting imbalance in genetic information. Molecular biologist Marie-Line Faucillion has studied this in her dissertation defended at UmeƄ University, Sweden. Her findings can be useful to better understand how sex chromosomes are regulated, but also to
9 March, 2021 - UmeƄ universitet
Large asteroids or comets hitting Earth, massive volcanic eruptions and other single, deadly events are usually the focus for scientists seeking to reconstruct Earthās past mass extinctions. In a new study, researchers from UmeĆ„ University and the University of Florida instead uncovered a new major transition between past marine faunas that could not be explained by a single catastrophic event.
8 December, 2020 - UmeƄ universitet
On 10 December, the Nobel Prize Ceremony will take place at which Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna will be awarded their Nobel Prizes in Chemistry. Emmanuelle Charpentier made the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 when she worked at UmeƄ University.
22 October, 2020 - UmeƄ universitet
The Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine (WCMM) in UmeƄ has been granted SEK 170 million in operational support and another SEK 68 million for recruitments into data-driven Life Science by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
Expertsvar, The Swedish Research Council, Hantverkargatan 11B, Stockholm SWEDENPhone +46(0)8 546 44 000
P.O. Box 1035, SE-101 38 Stockholm, expertsvar@vr.se
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