We insist, on many occasions, on the incidence of the passage of time for the appearance of reproductive problems, which we know as ovarian aging. And it is that each time the moment in which women are mothers is delayed, due to demographic or socioeconomic causes. In this sense, ovarian reactivation is presented as an option with promising results for patients with low ovarian reserve and poor prognosis. Otherwise, these women could only gestate with donated eggs to fulfill their desire to become mothers, with the help of Assisted Reproduction. In this sense, in the ninth edition of the IVIRMA Congress, various works have been presented on this area of reproductive medicine.
Study presented at the 9th IVIRMA Congress
“It should be noted that, frequently, aging disorders are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. As well as alterations in oogenesis – the process of formation of female sex cells – and embryogenesis – formation and development of the embryo -, explains the Prof. Emre Seli, Research Director of IVI in the USA.
Taking this context as a starting point, Prof. Seli has developed a study on the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in ovarian aging. It also analyzes how to exploit mitochondrial mechanisms, in order to slow down or reverse the impact of age on the female gonads – the genital gland that is responsible for making reproductive cells.
“Mitochondria are special and important organelles. They play a key role in cellular metabolism. In addition, they have their own mitochondrial DNA. They have long been implicated in somatic aging. Scientists started from a hypothesis that mitochondrial DNA underwent mutations over time. This, in turn, caused a lower efficiency in the production of proteins derived from said DNA. So once the cell lost the ability to generate energy effectively, it would age faster ”adds Dr. Seli.
Relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction and ovarian aging
While this hypothesis is sound and has been supported by animal models, it is not usually a common cause of somatic cell aging in humans.
“There are many other theories about the incidence of mitochondria in cellular health and aging. Some suggest that mitochondrial fusion problems – meaning by fusion that mitochondria meet or fuse together – or problems derived from mitochondrial stress could accelerate aging. In this sense, this scenario was observed in animal tests, which caused accelerated aging and damaged the reserve ”, says Dr. Seli.
On the other hand, mitochondria have also been used as diagnostic tools. Through the measurement of the number of copies of mitochondrial DNA, a prognosis of the health and viability of the embryo is obtained.
Although at the moment there is no solution for the acceleration of aging in relation to the mitochondria, but at IVI we are leading a line of research that could become an alternative.
“In a similar way, mitochondrial replacement has been used. Taking autologous mitochondria from the patient’s stem cells and putting them at the source for a potentially rejuvenating purpose, despite the fact that a study by IVI Valencia proved that this approach is not conclusive at the moment “concludes Dr. Seli.
Ovarian reactivation to reverse ovarian aging
One of the topics that currently generates the most interest, in reproductive medicine, is that of ovarian aging. Approximately, in our country, 1 in 100 women under 40 years of age suffers from premature ovarian failure (POI, for its acronym in English). This translates into the impossibility of carrying a baby with their own eggs, which means that they must resort to egg donation in order to become mothers.
In this sense, the study presented in this edition of the IVIRMA Congress by Professor Antonio Pellicer, President and CEO of IVI, on Ovarian Reactivation, a viable and effective option for this type of patients, is particularly relevant.
“In recent years our research group has focused on the development of alternatives for patients with low ovarian reserve, who would be led to egg donation. Our previous studies reflect the ability of autologous ovarian stem cell transplantation to optimize the growth of existing follicles. Thus, the development of pregnancies and births of babies is allowed in patients with low responders and with a very poor prognosis “, comments Prof. Pellicer.
With the aim of developing a more efficient technique, but at the same time less invasive, IVI has developed an experimental study focused on testing the ability of different factors secreted from stem cells to reactivate the ovaries.
Important findings for patients with low ovarian reserve
“We also tested other factors, contained within the platelets that are the basis of the PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) treatment, proposed for women with ovarian failure. In this study, we observed that different sources of plasma or stem cell factors or umbilical cord blood plasma were capable of inducing different degrees of local ovarian vascularization, cell proliferation, reducing apoptosis and finally promoting follicular growth in mice with damaged ovaries “explains Prof. Pellicer.
These findings suggest the relevance of combining the benefits of the non-cellular components of the ASCOT technique with the growth factors contained in platelets. This achieves an improvement and acceleration of the regenerative effects in the ovary. Therefore, it would be an effective treatment to achieve encouraging results in the use of own oocytes in patients with poor ovarian reserve.
