The Extended Fertility of Naked Mole-Rats

Naked mole-rats exhibit few signs of aging across a life span. Only the queens bear young, but they can continue do so into old age. As this study notes, they achieve this feat via a number of mechanisms that ensure a continued supply of egg cells. This isn't just a matter of minimizing damage to these cells and their supporting tissues, but also generating new egg cells in adult life, unlike other mammals. It remains an open question as to whether there is any great realization yet to be found in this comparative biology that will benefit efforts to extend human fertility into later life. It doesn't hurt to look. Unlike humans and other mammals, which become less fertile with age, naked mole-rats can reproduce throughout their remarkably long lifespans. For most mammals, including humans and mice, females are born with a finite number of egg cells, which are produced in utero via a process called oogenesis. Because this limited supply of egg cells depletes over time - some are released during ovulation, but most simply die - fertility declines with age. In contrast, naked mole-rat queens can breed right through old age, suggesting the rodents have special processes to preserve their ovarian reserve and avoid waning fertility. "There are three possibilities for how they do this: They are born with a lot of egg cells, not as many of these cells die, or they continue to create more egg cells after birth. My favorite hypothesis is that they use a cocktail of all three."...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs