Protein linked to better egg quality in older female mice
Treated females averaged 15.3 pups each versus 9.0 in untreated aged controls over 14 weeks in a mouse experiment.
Limit: Only six females per group contributed to the fertility comparison
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Researchers tested stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), a protein, in female ICR mice aged 44–48 weeks and in their eggs grown in the lab. Mice received daily abdominal injections of 10 micrograms per kilogram of body weight for 14 days or control injections. The fertility experiment followed six females per group for 14 weeks.
Supplementation was associated with fewer abnormalities in structures that separate chromosomes and reduced oxidative stress, an imbalance involving reactive molecules. Eggs from treated mice had higher fertilization rates, and resulting embryos developed better in the lab. The authors suggested that SDF-1 worked primarily by enhancing autophagy, the cell’s recycling process. This was associated with clearing accumulated stress granules, temporary clusters of RNA and proteins. Blocking autophagy weakened SDF-1’s benefits in eggs grown in the lab.
Why it matters
Declining egg quality contributes to reduced fertility with age. The authors viewed SDF-1 as a candidate for further research on reproductive aging.
Caveats
The supplementation experiments involved mice and mouse eggs, not women, with only six females per group in the fertility comparison. Human findings linked lower SDF-1 levels to older age in samples from women undergoing in vitro fertilization; they did not test supplementation.
