Infertility and stem cells

Filed in archive Investigational on July 29, 2005

Researchers at MGH in Boston potentially links marrow stem cells to fertility:

Women may possess a hidden cache of stem cells in the bone marrow that constantly replenish the ovaries with new eggs, a new study suggests.

The idea contradicts long-established scientific dogma that holds that a woman is born with a complement of eggs that must last throughout her reproductive life.

The theory, proposed by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital, would, if confirmed, have major implications for fertility treatments, but at present it has many critics . . .

. . . The new theory, if true, would reinforce the view of the bone marrow as the ultimate repository of the body's regenerative powers. Blood cells are known to be renewed from stem cells in the marrow, as are those of bone, cartilage and fat, and some researchers believe the heart is also replenished from the marrow.

(Wade, "Study Links Stem Cells in Marrow to Fertility", NY Times, Jul.28)