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Figure 15 | Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology

Figure 15

From: Origin of germ cells and formation of new primary follicles in adult human ovaries

Figure 15

Age-related changes in primary follicle numbers in both human ovaries (A) and descriptive statistics (B). A) Statistical analysis of transformed cumulative data [Y = Log(Y)] reported by Block [53,63,64] and Gougeon [54] shows P < 0.0001 for one-way ANOVA. Tukey-Kramer Multiple Comparison post-test revealed that compared to neonatal ovaries a significant difference in follicle number first appears in the age group of 18 to 24 years. However, no significant difference was observed during the 20 years of optimal reproductive period, between females 18–38 years of age. Yet, the ovaries obtained from 40–50 year old females showed a significantly lower number of primary follicles vs. all other age groups. B) Descriptive statistics indicates plateau of the maximum follicle numbers (highlighted) during the 6–16, 18–38, and 40–50 age periods, associated with a lack of statistical significance between mean values ± SD – see panel (A).

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