Abstract
Recent improvements in transvaginal sonography offer, for the first time, the opportunity to study the natural history of changes in the ovarian follicle pool in vivo. Until now, observations have been based on autopsy (1, 2) and surgical (3) specimens. These establish that the number of ovarian follicles decrease from fetal life to the menopause. In his classic autopsy study Block (1) observed that during the reproductive years the median number of follicles declined from about 104,000 in the early 20s to 33,000 in the early 30s to 7,900 in the early 40s. A decline was also seen for antral (fluid-containing) follicles that were greater than 1 mm in diameter; these are the small fraction (less than 0.5%) of the total pool that have developed and enlarged. The median number of these larger follicles decreased from 57 to 46 to 0 in the three age groups.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Block E. Quantitative morphological investigations of the follicular system in women: variations at different ages. Acta Anat 1952;14:108–23.
Baker TG. A quantitative and cytological study of germ cells in human ovaries. Proc R Soc Biol 1963;158:417–33.
Faddy MJ, Gosden RG, Gougeon A, Richardson S J, Nelson JF. Accelerated disappearance of ovarian follicles in mid-life: implications for forecasting menopause. Hum Reprod 1992;7:1342–6.
Pache TD, Wladimiroff JW, Dejong FH, Hop WC, Fauser BCJM. Growth patterns of nondominant ovarian follicles during the normal menstrual cycle. Fertil Steril 1990;54:638–42.
Thomford PJ, Jelovsek FR, Mattison PR. Effect of oocyte number and rate of atresia on the age of menopause. Reprod Toxicol 1987;1:41–51.
Kline J, Levin B. Trisomy and age at menopause: predicted associations given a link with rate of oocyte atresia. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol 1992;6:225–39.
Cran DG, Moor RM. The development of oocytes and ovarian follicles of mammals. Sci Prog 1980;66:371–83.
Krarup T, Pedersen T, Faber M. Regulation of oocyte growth in the mouse ovary. Nature 1969;224:187–8.
Gougeon A, Chainy GBN. Morphometric studies of small follicles in ovaries of women at different ages. J Reprod Fertil 1987;81:433–42.
Hirshfield AN. Relationship between the supply of primordial follicles and the onset of follicular growth in rats. Biol Reprod 1994;50:421–8.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer-Verlarg New York, Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reuss, M.L., Kline, J., Santos, R., Levin, B., Timor-Tritsch, I. (1997). Age and the Ovarian Follicle Pool Assessed with Transvaginal Sonography. In: Lobo, R.A. (eds) Perimenopause. Serono Symposia USA. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2288-0_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2288-0_19
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7488-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-2288-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive