Researchers from the Hebrew University were able to improve the quality of aging eggs by controlling the cellular signal "map kinase" of worms. In the next step, studies will be carried out in human eggs. If it turns out that in humans the aging of the eggs is also controlled by the same signal, it will be possible to bring about more successful fertility treatments among older women using a chemical substance
Fertility in women decreases rapidly with increasing age, and in fact most of the eggs in most women over the age of forty cannot lead to the birth of a healthy baby. This phenomenon of a drastic decrease in fertility in females is not unique to humans, and also exists in a variety of animals. Today there is no way to improve the quality of eggs in a person, but only to select the more successful embryos for reproductive purposes.
In a new study carried out by Dr. Yonatan Zur, Dr. Hana Ashash and graduate student Rani Falk from the Hebrew University and published in the journal aging cell, the different effects of aging on oogenesis in C. elegans worms, an organism accepted in aging and fertility, were examined. The researchers checked, in the middleand various microscopic and functional methods, how the tissue of sex cells changes throughout aging. The test was done comparing young, old, post-fertility and old worms, which for worms are three, six, ten and twelve days old.
The researchers found that there are processes that continue in a normal way in the formation of eggs throughout all stages of aging, but there are some that change. All the changed processes were similar to the situation of young worms in which there is a problem with the cellular signal "map kinase". The cellular signal is a kind of switch that "turns on" and "turns off" various actions in the cell depending on the situation in which it is found. In the present study it was discovered that the dynamics of this signal is different in old and old worms than in young ones. The researchers hypothesized that the rate of aging could be controlled by controlling that cellular signal. Indeed, when they used transgenic worms in which the signal was very active, the quality of eggs in older worms was lower, and more embryos did not complete the process of embryonic development, similar to natural abortion in humans. In contrast, when they silenced the signal with a chemical inhibitor, the quality of the eggs increased and there was less embryonic death.
Dr. Tzur explains that the research team is now moving to perform experiments on human eggs: "If it turns out that the aging of eggs in humans is also controlled by the same signal, it will be possible to improve the quality of eggs by chemical substances that inhibit map kinase, some of which are already approved as drugs, and help women who are having difficulties in the future To give birth".
More of the topic in Hayadan:
