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Environmental Influences on Ovarian Aging

  • Chapter
Perimenopause

Part of the book series: Serono Symposia USA ((SERONOSYMP))

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Abstract

Our long-term goal is to understand the role played by environmental factors (particularly chemical exposures) in the time-dependent decline in ovarian function in women. Any assessment of the impact of exposures to dietary or environmental chemicals on ovarian function will face the challenge of distinguishing direct or indirect ovarian toxicity from the normal age-dependent depletion of the ovarian follicle reserve due to processes of aging that are (a) intrinsic (such as genetic pleiotropism), and/or (b) extrinsic (such as cumulative oxidative injury, ambient radiation damage, suboptimal macronutrient intake, or stress). If chromosomal, autoimmune, and infectious factors are excluded, some extrinsic exposures that flagrantly affect the number or the rate of depletion of follicles are known. These agents, which are frankly toxic to the ovaries, include heavy metals and chemotherapeutic agents. While these exposures are consequential for specific, restricted groups of humans, ovarian toxicity due to exposure to these particular agents is arguably of limited relevance as an important environmental influence on ovarian aging in the general population.

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Authors
  1. Claude L. Hughes
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  2. Glinda S. Cooper
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Rogerio A. Lobo M.D.

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

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Hughes, C.L., Cooper, G.S. (1997). Environmental Influences on Ovarian Aging. In: Lobo, R.A. (eds) Perimenopause. Serono Symposia USA. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2288-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2288-0_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7488-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-2288-0

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