Oogenesis And Folliculogenesis Introduction

Question 1

Gametogenesis is similar in the female and male in that the generation of both oocytes and sperm involve:

Answer 1

mitosis

meiosis

specialized packaging to produce a mature germ cell.

Question 2

Oogenesis differs from spermatogenesis in several important aspects: Like the sperm, the oocyte contributes half the genes for the future embryo. However,

Answer 2

Unlike the sperm, it also supplies all of the cytoplasmic material for the early embryo including most of the cytoplasmic organelles nutrients and the embryo’s structural and enzymatic proteins.

The most striking difference between oogenesis and spermatogenesis is the duration of gamete development that starts in a woman when she is a fetus in her mother’s womb and continues throughout her reproductive life.

Question 3

It is generally accepted that a woman produces all of her oocytes

Answer 3

before she is born and the oocytes are then slowly used up until menopause.

Question 4

The finite and apparently irreplaceable gamete population available to women has driven studies in animal models attempting to isolate potential ovarian stem cells that could

Answer 4

overcome problems of ovarian insufficiency and aging.

Question 5

While the potential for spontaneous creation of human gametes from germ line stem cells in vivo is unclear the entire cycle of the mouse female germ line has been reconstituted in vitro using

Answer 5

pluripotent stem cells. This approach may provide essential information regarding the mechanisms regulating oogenesis.

Question 6

The process of oogenesis tightly coupled with the menstrual cycle and only a select few oocytes

Answer 6

develop to a mature state.

Question 7

A woman will ovulate only one or two fully matured oocytes each month during

Answer 7

her reproductive years which represents about 450 in her entire lifetime.