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Human Reproduction, Vol. 2, No. 7, pp. 617-621, 1987
© 1987 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

research-article

Follicular status at the menopause*

Roger G. Gosden

Department of Physiology, University Medical School Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, UK

The store of ovarian follicles which is fonned before birth progressively diminishes as a result of follicle death (atresia) and recruitment towards ovulation and will become barren in time. Depletion has occurred in the human ovary at or shortly after the menopause bringing reproductive potential, which has been declining for several years, to a final halt. Several factors can affect the timing of menopause and it appears that changes in the rates of follicle death have a greater impact than differences in the initial numbers of follicles. It is argued that the precocious loss of fecundity in humans, as compared with virtually all animals, has arisen adventitiously as a consequence of the evolution of long life relative to body weight.

Key words: menopause/ovarian follicle/depletion/atresia/evolution

*Based on a lecture delivered at the Third Annual Meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology held in Cambridge between June 28 and July 1, 1987.


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