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Scientists find way to predict timing of menopause

June 28, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) – Iranian scientists say they have developed a way of using a simple blood test to predict accurately when women will reach the menopause, offering the chance for women to plan for family and career far in advance.

The test, which measures levels of a hormone produced by cells in the ovaries, was able to predict the age at which women reached menopause to within an average of 4 months, according to data to be presented at the conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome on Monday.

“The results … could enable us to make a more realistic assessment of women’s reproductive status many years before they reach menopause,” said Ramezani Tehrani of the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, who led the study.

Experts commenting on the work agreed it was promising, but said its findings would need to be confirmed in larger trials.

“The possibility of an accurate predictor for menopause is very exciting. People have been looking for something like this for years,” said Dagan Wells of the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Oxford University.

The average age for menopause is 51, with ovulation in most women ending sometime between age 40 and 60. But it can happen later or earlier, making it difficult for women who want to develop a career before having babies to know how long to wait.

Tehrani’s team took blood samples from 266 women aged between 20 and 49 who were also taking part in another study called the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study, which started in 1998.

They then measured concentrations of a hormone called the anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) that is produced by cells in women’s ovaries. AMH controls the development of follicles in the ovaries from which eggs develop, and the scientists suspected it might be useful for judging ovarian function.

STATISTICAL MODEL

The researchers took two more blood samples at three yearly intervals and also collected information on the women’s socioeconomic background and reproductive history.

“We developed a statistical model for estimating the age at menopause from a single measurement of AMH concentration,” Tehrani explained in a report on the study. “Using this model, we estimated mean average ages at menopause for women at different time points in their reproductive life span.”

Tehrani said the results showed “a good level of agreement” between predicted and actual age at menopause for the 63 women in the group who reached menopause during the study.

The average difference between the predicted age and the women’s actual age at menopause was a third of a year, and the maximum margin of error was three to four years.

Wells said Tehrani’s team appeared to have hit upon a “fairly accurate algorithm” for predicting menopause.

But said it would be important to see if the method could also help predict the time when fertility effectively ends.

“A woman may cease monthly ovulation and experience menopause at 50, but she will probably have been effectively infertile for several years prior to this,” he said. “It will be important to let patients know that fertility will have declined greatly in the years preceding the final ovulation.”

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Accurate Predictor, blood samples, Dagan Wells, European Society Of Human Reproduction And Embryology, Follicles, having babies, Hormone Amh, human reproduction, Mullerian, nuffield department, obstetrics and gynaecology, ovaries, ovulation, oxford university, Realistic Assessment, reuters, Shahid Beheshti University, Shahid Beheshti University Of Medical Sciences, statistical model, Tehrani

How sex hormones control ‘masculinization’ of the brain

April 29, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 29 (ANI): A new study has uncovered some information about how sex hormones control masculinization of the brain during development and drive gender related behaviors in adult males.

Published by Cell Press in the April 29 issue of the journal Neuron, the study demonstrates that direct action of testosterone, the prototypical male hormone, is unnecessary for masculinizing the brain and behavior.

Testosterone and estrogen are thought to play an essential role in organizing and activating gender-specific patterns of behavior in sexually reproducing animals.

Testosterone is produced by the testes and directly activates the androgen receptor (AR) in target tissues such as muscle. Estrogen is produced by the ovaries and is nearly undetectable in the circulation of males of most species. However, circulating testosterone in males can be converted into estrogen in the brain, and this testosterone-derived estrogen has been shown to control many male behaviors.

“It was known that testosterone and estrogen are essential for typical male behaviors in many vertebrate species,” explains the study”s senior author, Dr. Nirao M. Shah from the Department of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco. “However, how these two hormones interact to control masculinization of the brain and behavior remained to be established.”

Dr. Shah and colleagues found that during the neonatal testosterone surge there is very little AR expressed in the developing brain, making it unlikely that testosterone signaling via AR plays a major role in masculinizing neural pathways. Importantly, they went on to show that the male pattern of AR expression in the brain was dependent on testosterone-derived estrogen signaling.

The researchers then used a genetic approach to knock out the AR in the mouse nervous system and observed that these mutants still exhibited male type mating, fighting, and territorial marking behaviors. However, these mutant males had striking reductions in specific components of these masculine behaviors. These results show that testosterone signaling via AR does not control masculine differentiation of the brain and behavior but regulates the frequency and extent of male typical behaviors.

“Our findings in conjunction with previous work suggest a model for the control of male pattern behaviors in which estrogen masculinizes the neural circuits for mating, fighting, and territory marking, and testosterone and estrogen signaling generate the male typical levels of these behaviors,” concludes Dr. Shah. “It will be interesting in future studies to identify the molecular and circuit level mechanisms that are controlled by these hormones.” (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Adult Males, Androgen Receptor, April 29, california san francisco, estrogen, Genetic Approach, male hormone, Mutan, mutants, nervous system, Neural Pathways, Neuron, ovaries, sex hormones, Target Tissues, testes, testosterone, Testosterone Surge, university of california san francisco, Vertebrate Species

Male and female chromosomes do communicate with each other

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 11 (ANI): Scientists in the University of Leicester’s Department of Genetics have for the first time revealed that the male and female do truly communicate -at least at the fundamental genetic level.

The research counters scientific theory that the X and Y chromosomes – that define the sexes – do not communicate at all.

In the study, Dr. Zoe Rosser and colleagues have shown that exchange of DNA does actually occur between the X and Y in the regions previously thought to be completely isolated.

“Recently it was shown that the Y chromosome can talk to itself – swapping bits of DNA from one region to another, and potentially giving it a way to fix mutations that might affect male fertility. In this new research we’ve now shown that it actually maintains a genetic conversation with the X chromosome, potentially giving it a way to fix other kinds of mutations, too. So, maybe it’s not quite the dysfunctional loner we have always imagined it to be,” said Professor Mark Jobling, who led the study.

It is the Y chromosome in men that determines maleness by triggering development of testes rather than ovaries in the early embryo.

“These days the X and Y are a very odd couple, but long ago, before mammals evolved, they were an ordinary pair of identical chromosomes, exchanging DNA in a companionable way through the process of genetic recombination. However, once the Y chromosome took on the job of determining maleness, they stopped talking to each other. The X remained much the same, but the Y set out on a path of degeneration that saw it lose many of its genes and shrink to about one third the size of the X. Some scientists have predicted that it will eventually vanish altogether,” said Jobling.

“These new findings from the Department of Genetics of the University of Leicester now challenge this interpretation of the Y chromosome’s fate,” he added.

The researchers discovered that the conversation between the X and Y chromosome goes both ways, and it is also clear that mutations arising on a decaying Y chromosome can perhaps be passed to the X – the Y chromosome’s revenge.

In future, the researchers will assess how widespread X-Y exchanges have been during evolution, and what the likely functional effects might be.

The study has been published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. (ANI)

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Even minor weight loss ‘ups fertility’ in obese women

July 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 1 (ANI): A new study has suggested that minor weight loss in obese women could boost their chances of getting pregnant.

Professor Bill Ledger, from the University of Sheffield, and colleagues said conducted a three-month study of 40 obese women who were not ovulating.

Many of them suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

The group’s average age was 29 and their body mass index (BMI) was around 40. Health service guidelines do not recommend IVF treatment for women with a BMI of above 30.

The women were given weight loss drugs to help them lose 5 percent of their body weight over a three-month period.

The weight loss of 5 percent was connected with a 19 percent rise in blood flow to the womb.

This increase in flow could assist an egg’s release from the ovaries and help with embryo implantation.

The researchers stated that the increase in blood flow worked like a “switch” to stimulate the ovaries.

Testosterone levels – which are higher in PCOS sufferers – also decreased as the blood flow picked up.

Ledger said that requesting that women lost 5-10 percent of their body weight was a ‘modest target’.

“The message for women with PCOS is don’t think you have to lose half your body weight. This could also encourage moderately overweight women to lose 5-10 percent,” the BBC quoted Ledger as saying.

Women with PCOS, which is one of the most common causes of infertility, tend to put on weight because of their condition and struggle more than other women to lose it through diet and exercise.

The study was presented at the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE). (ANI)

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New ovarian transplant technique offers hope to infertile

June 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 30 (ANI): French doctors have unveiled a new technique for transplanting the ovaries of women who have lost their fertility as a result of cancer treatment.

The technique, described by Pascal Piver of the Limoges University Hospital in central-western France, has helped a young woman who had been menopausal for two years to give birth to a healthy baby girl.

Using a two-step process, they restored fertility to the woman after she had undergone chemotherapy treatment for sickle-cell anaemia, a disease in which red blood cells become dangerously misshaped.

Ovarian transplants, pioneered in 2004, entail removing an ovary from a woman before she undergoes cancer therapy. The organ is frozen and then thawed and returned to the patient after her treatment.

But one of the biggest challenges in this surgery is encouraging the transplanted tissue to grow blood vessels.

If the blood supply is insufficient, the ovary does not respond to hormonal cues that prompt it to ovulate.

The new technique entails a two-phase procedure in which tiny pieces of the stored tissue are stitched in place three days before the real transplant.

“The first graft encourages the growth of blood vessels and paves the way for the ovary to become fully functioning in a shorter time scale,” the researchers said.

After the transplant, the patient started ovulating in four months and became pregnant after another two months, without the need for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

Piver said the technique had also been used on a second patient whose ovary had been in storage for 10 years. She is now pregnant after IVF.

“We believe that it represents a considerable advance on the methods of ovarian transplantation used until now,” Piver said.

“We hope that it will enable more young patients who have been cured of cancer to regain their reproductive health and become pregnant with their own children,” Piver added.

The new technique has been described at the 25th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. (ANI)

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Gossiping is good for women’s health

June 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

LONDON: Next time you indulge in gossiping, don’t carry any guilt, for a new study has concluded that a nice chat is good for health.

According to scientists at the University of Michigan who carried out the study on 160 women, woman is happier and healthier if she loves a good natter with her girlfriends.

Experts claim it boosts levels of progesterone, a hormone shown to reduce levels of anxiety and stress.

The study’s researchers said progesterone, which is produced by women’s ovaries, plays an important part in social bonding, reports The Daily Express.

“Many of the hormones involved in bonding lead to reduction in stress and anxiety,” said research leader Professor Stephanie Brown.

The research is published in the journal Hormones and Behaviour.

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: guilt, hormones, levels of anxiety, London, Natter, ovaries, plays, progesterone, research leader, Scientists, Stephanie Brown, stress and anxiety, University of Michigan, Women Health, Women S Health

Now, test that predicts when a woman will reach menopause

May 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 26 (ANI): Scientists have made a new discovery that might be of great help for women planning to have babies later in life.

For the first time, scientists have been able to identify the genetic factors that influence the age at which natural menopause occurs.

It is hoped that this can allow women in their late 30s and early 40s to pinpoint accurately how long they have left in which to conceive and when they should start trying for a baby.

Lisette Stolk, a researcher from Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, said at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics that a greater understanding of the factors influencing age at menopause might also help to improve the clinical treatment of infertile women.

Stolk and colleagues analysed genetic data from nine studies involving 10,339 menopausal women.

They found 20 single letter changes in the genetic code that were associated with having an early menopause.

The variants, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), were located at four different sites on chromosomes 19 and 20, two of the coiled packages of DNA that house the genes.

None of the variants had been identified before. What effect they have is unclear, but the scientists suspect they influence the ovaries or the brain.

“We found that the 20 SNPs were all related to a slightly earlier menopause and women who had one of them experienced menopause nearly a year earlier than others,” said Stolk.

“We know that ten years before menopause women are much less fertile, and five years before many are infertile. In Western countries, where women tend to have children later in life and closer to menopause, age at menopause can be an important factor in whether or not a particular woman is able to become a mother,” Stolk added.

Other effects of earlier menopause include an increased risk of the bone disease osteoporosis, the joint disease osteoarthritis and of heart disease, although it can also offer some protection against the risk of breast cancer. (ANI)

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Artificial ovary ‘turns immature human egg into mature one’

May 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 08 (ANI): An artificial ovary grown in lab by researchers at the Women and Infants Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, has been able to turn an immature egg into one that is ready to be fertilised.

Lead researchers Sandra Carson and Stephan Krotz had created the artificial ovary using slivers of ovarian tissue.

For this work, the researchers started with theca cells, which form the outer coating of the follicle that holds the egg and produces a precursor to oestrogen.

They got their cells from ovaries that had been removed from young women for other reasons. A gel mould shaped like a honeycomb was seeded with theca cells, which grew into a structure 2 millimetres wide.

From the fluid surrounding eggs of another set of women undergoing IVF the team extracted granulosa cells, which produce the hormone oestradiol and help eggs to mature.

They used a mould to form them into spherical clumps, which they placed into cavities in the honeycomb.

Next, they took a human egg that was about one week shy of ovulation and placed it into the structure along with follicle-stimulating hormone, which helps egg growth but is not released in the ovaries.

The egg took just 72 hours to develop to the point where it could be fertilised: at this point it had developed a “polar body”, a small structure only produced once an egg is mature.

Scientists say that the next step will be to see if the ovary can mature even younger eggs, known as primordial cells, which women have in their thousands.

“We’re hoping to take eggs that are very immature and mature them,” New Scientist quoted Carson as saying.

Krotz reckons this could be done in 10 days, compared with the 280 or more days it would take in a woman’s body.

Eggs seem to mature faster outside the body, which may be because the artificial ovary lacks factors produced by the body that inhibit the process.

The researchers reported their findings on 2 May at a meeting of the New England Fertility Society in New Hampshire. (ANI)

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Spiders go for violent, but effective sex

May 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 1 (ANI): Spiders in Israel have been seen indulging in a violent but evolutionarily effective mating strategy, which guarantees direct fertilisation of eggs in the ovaries.

In the so-called traumatic insemination, males of the Harpactea sadistica species pierce the abdomen of females, and thus fertilise their eggs directly in the ovaries.

Such a practice provides the first male to inseminate a reproductive advantage by bypassing structures in the females’ genitalia, reports The BBC.

Although, other insects, including mites and bedbugs, have been known to use a similar strategy, but this is the first time that it has been seen in spiders.

Usually, spider males deliver their genetic package via sperm that is deposited into a small web and manually inserted via a pair of appendages on their undersides known as pedipalps.

Then, the sperm are held in a receptacle between the ovipore and ovary, known as a spermatheca, till the release of an egg.

But, the spermatheca is a “last in, first out” structure, thus if any further males inseminate a female, the last mate’s sperm is the first in line to fertilise an egg.

Milan Rezic, an entomologist at the Crop Research Institute in Prague, spotted a spider evade this problem by delivering sperm directly to the ovaries via holes that the males bore directly in the females’ abdomens.

Rezac named the species H. sadistica and pointed out that the species has specialised sex organs at the ends of its pedipalps, with one part specialised for gripping and another, hypodermic needle-like structure for injecting sperm.

And just like many spider mating rituals, H. sadistica ‘s approach follows an elaborate pattern-male taps the female, subdues her, and then wraps himself around her to properly position the sex organs.

Alter, he alternates between the two, piercing and injecting the sperm on one side, then the other, forming two neat rows of holes in her abdomen.

The researchers analysed the females of the species and found that their spermathecae are atrophied, or shrunken, in comparison to other spiders.

In an apparent case of co-evolution, they are apparently slowly shrinking into non-existence, as their purpose is being sidestepped by the males’ more direct approach.

The findings are reported in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. (ANI)

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Dubai claims to have world’s first cloned camel

April 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Dubai, Apr.14 (ANI): The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday claimed that it had the world’s first cloned camel.

Injaz, born in Dubai, is a female. It was born on April 8, 2009 at the Camel Reproduction Centre after more than five years of work by scientists, The National newspaper reported.

“This significant breakthrough in our research programme gives a means of preserving the valuable genetics of our elite racing and milk producing camels in the future,” Dr Lulu Skidmore, scientific director at the Camel Reproduction Centre, said in a statement.

Injaz, whose name means “achievement” in Arabic, is the clone of a camel that was slaughtered for its meat in 2005, The National said.

Scientists used DNA extracted from cells in the ovaries of the slain animal and put it into an egg taken from the surrogate mother to create a reconstructed embryo, it said.(ANI)

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Experts say develop eggs using stem cells from mice

April 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Researchers in China say they have managed to generate new eggs using stem cells from the ovaries of young and adult female mice, taking a step toward addressing problems of female infertility.

It is presently accepted in scientific circles that the production of eggs, known as oocytes, stops before birth for most species of mammals, including humans.

In an article published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, scientists in China said they found a way to generate new eggs using stem cells harvested from the ovaries of juvenile and adult female mice.

“The finding may have important implications in regenerative and reproductive medicine,” they wrote.

Two other scientists, unrelated to the study, said the results were interesting but needed independent confirmation.

Led by Ji Wu from the School of Life Science and Biotechnology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the researchers said they isolated female germline stem cells (FGSC) from the ovaries of five-day-old and adult mice.

The cells were cultured for more than six months and then transplanted into the ovaries of infertile female mice, they said, adding that eighty percent of these mice went on to produce offspring after natural mating.

“These results suggest that oocytes can be regenerated in sterile recipient females by transplantation of FGSCs,” they wrote.

Azim Surani, professor of physiology and reproduction at Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, who was not connected to the study said: “Sperm are produced continuously in men but the number of eggs in women is fixed at birth.”

“This new study in mice now suggests that there are also stem cells present in ovaries that can be cultured in a dish, which upon transfer to ovaries can develop into viable eggs and give rise to offspring. This finding, if confirmed independently, could advance understanding of these ovarian stem cells and advance research on female infertility.”

Another researcher who was also unrelated to the study, called for caution.

“A lot more work is needed to understand what these new cells really are, and to verify the findings and the claims,” said Robin Lovell-Badge at the MRC National Institute For Medical Research in Britain.

(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Egg stem cells may pave way for new fertility treatments

April 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Apr 13 (ANI): Contradicting the belief that women are born with a finite number of eggs, scientists have discovered stem cells in the ovaries of adult mice that seem to give rise to new eggs and healthy offspring.

If confirmed in humans, the above findings may revolutionise female reproduction by paving the way for women to delay child-rearing almost indefinitely.

It could also offer a new source of eggs for women who have been rendered infertile.

In the study, Ji Wu and his colleagues at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China isolated the mouse ovarian stem cells – dubbed female germline stem cells (FGSCs).

For this, they tried to find cells producing an egg-related protein called MVH in the ovaries of adult and five-day-old female mice.

Later, they identified rapidly dividing cells and grew them in culture, where they continued to proliferate.

Finally, they injected the FGSCs into the ovaries of mice that had previously been sterilised by chemotherapy.
It was found that new eggs formed in the ovaries and the mice subsequently became pregnant and gave birth to healthy offspring.

To confirm that the offspring really did come from the implanted eggs, Wu had inserted a gene encoding a fluorescent protein into the stem cells, which some of the offspring were also found to be carrying.

“By producing live young, these cells have passed the ultimate test to prove their germline credentials. It’s very, very exciting,” New Scientist magazine quoted Evelyn Telfer of the University of Edinburgh, UK, as saying.

Now, independent labs will try to replicate the above results.

“Stem cell biology has been mired in the problem of replication, and a very high standard of proof is needed,” said Roger Gosden of Weil Cornell Medical College in New York.

If the cells were found to exist in humans and can be extracted, it would open the doors to growing large numbers of eggs in a dish to repopulate damaged or depleted ovaries.

It would then be used to create embryos for childless couples, or embryonic stem cell research. (ANI)

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Soybean may help cut menopause effects

April 9, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Washington, Apr 9 (ANI): Soy aglycons of isoflavone (SAI), a group of soybean constituent chemicals, may help reduce menopause effects, say researchers.

The research, described in BioMed Central’s open access journal Nutrition and Metabolism, shows how dietary supplementation with SAI lowers cholesterol, increases the anti-oxidative properties of the liver and prevents degeneration of the vaginal lining.

obin Chiou led a team of researchers from National Chiayi University, Taiwan, who studied the effects of the dietary supplement on a group of female rats that had undergone ovary removal.

He said, “These ovariectomized animals are a good model for study of the menopause as the loss of oestrogen from the ovaries mimics the natural reduction in oestrogen seen in menopausal women. SAI itself has weak oestrogenic properties and we’ve shown here that menopause-related syndromes can be prevented or improved by dietary supplementation with the compounds it contains”.

In comparison to control animals, the authors found that the ovariectomized rats fed a diet enriched with SAI showed increased liver antioxidative activities and improved lipid profiles. Levels of harmful LDL cholesterol were reduced, while beneficial HDL cholesterol was increased.

According to Chiou, “It is generally agreed that the higher HDL and the lower LDL concentrations are of benefit in chemoprevention of cardiovascular diseases. Our findings support the indication that soybean consumption may prevent coronary heart disease”.

The authors hope that dietary soy supplementation may provide an alternative to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which has been linked to the development of uterus and breast cancers. (ANI)

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Bug in fluid around ovaries hampers IVF success rate

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Apr 4 (ANI): A bacteria present in the fluid near the ovaries may reduce a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant via in vitro fertilisation (IVF), according to an Aussie researcher.

Dr. Christine Knox, a microbiologist at Queensland University of Technology, says that this finding contrasts the traditional view that fluid surrounding the ovum, known as follicular fluid, is sterile.

In her opinion, the study can help increase the success rates of assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

She also believes that the bacteria could be responsible for infertility cases that have no apparent cause.

For the study, Knox, along with researchers at the Wesley Monash IVF clinic, tested the fluid surrounding individual eggs taken from the ovaries of 31 women undergoing ART.

The researchers found that 21 of the samples had bacteria in the follicular fluid.

Knox said that the findings was startling because “traditionally it was assumed the fluid surrounding the ovum was sterile.”

The researchers even revealed that the finding was later replicated in a larger study, wherein they analysed the follicular fluid of 148 women and found bacteria in the fluid of all but one woman.

Further tests showed that, in some cases, the bacteria had been transferred from the lower genital tract to the follicular fluid during the medical procedure used to collect eggs known as transvaginal oocyte retrieval (TVOR).

But in 52 of the women, the follicular fluid contained bacteria that were not found in the lower tract.

According to Knox, the unique, colonising bacteria appear to play a role in reducing pregnancy outcomes.

She said that only 25 percent of women with follicular fluid colonised by this bacteria, had achieved a successful pregnancy.

“We also found that eggs from women with colonised follicular fluid had a lower rate of fertilisation to start with, which, of course, meant they produced fewer embryos for transfer to the womb,” the ABC quoted her as saying.

Knox said that they were working towards pinpointing the strain of bacteria that led to the reduced pregnancy outcomes, which could help them screen women for their presence. (ANI)

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First ovary transplant mother becomes pregnant in fertility landmark

November 13, 2008 By Rajesh 1 Comment

London, November 9 : A 38-year-old sterile woman is due to give birth to the world’s first baby conceived after a full ovary transplant.

A woman will soon deliver a child conceived from transplanted ovaries – a major breakthrough in infertility treatment that will make it first of its kind.

The woman, who became infertile after attaining early menopause aged 15, had been implanted with healthy ovaries taken from her twin sister making it possible for her to become pregnant without IVF aid.

The Londoner, who had been suffering with osteoporosis since her teen years, saw her periods return after the pioneering procedure led in the US by Dr Sherman Silber, at the Infertility Center of St Louis in Missouri.

“Reconnecting these blood vessels deep inside the pelvis can be a tactical challenge. The ovarian artery is less than a third of a millimetre in diameter, in fact so small many gynaecologists have never seen it,” the Scotsman quoted the microsurgery pioneer as saying.

With the landmark technique, the woman was observed to have started her normal ovulation within three months followed by normal hormone levels within five months.

The woman, whose body was expected to have a greater possibility to accept her twin’s ovaries, conceived around a year post procedure making it the first known pregnancy from a whole ovary transplant. (ANI)

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