Research Program Overview
The development of germ cells (eggs and sperm) is necessary to ensure the survival of future generations. The pool of primordial follicles present at birth represents the total population of eggs or oocytes available to a female during her entire reproductive life. Establishment of this source of oocytes is absolutely essential for fertility. The basic mechanisms underlying normal oocyte development as well how disorders disrupt these normal processes are not well understood. In order to gain insight into early oocyte development in mammals, we are studying this process in normal mice and in several different genetic strains of mice in which female fertility is reduced.
The pool of primordial follicles present at birth represents the total population of germ cells available to a female during her entire reproductive life. Establishment of this source of oocytes is absolutely essential for fertility. Shortly after forming, female germ cells undergo a series of incomplete cell divisions resulting in clusters called cysts. Just after birth, mouse germ cell cysts break down into individual oocytes (cyst breakdown) that are surrounded by pre-granulosa cells to form primordial follicles. During cyst breakdown, a subset of oocytes in each cyst dies by programmed cell death with only a third of the initial number of oocytes surviving. The long-term goal of our research is to understand the mechanisms that regulate cyst breakdown and programmed cell death to establish the primordial follicle pool in the mouse ovary.