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The Effects of Ageing on the Reproductive System

Ageing and the female reproductive system

  • 3 things to know
  • Components 01, 02 and 03

Overview

Recall questions on the declining number and quality of oocytes, non-disjunction and falling fertility with age, rising FSH, the menopause at an average age of about 51 and the perimenopause, post-menopausal hormone levels, hot flushes, osteoporosis, cardiovascular risk and urogenital effects.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Describe how the number of oocytes in the ovaries changes over a woman's lifetime.

Key term

Why does the risk of osteoporosis rise sharply after the menopause?

Key term

Why does blood FSH concentration rise as a woman approaches the menopause?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Describe how the number of oocytes in the ovaries changes over a woman's lifetime.

    Model answer

    All the primary oocytes, around one to two million, are present before birth, and the number falls continuously from then on, so only a few hundred are ever ovulated and almost none remain by the menopause.

  2. 2

    Why does the quality of oocytes fall as a woman ages?

    Model answer

    Primary oocytes remain arrested in prophase I for decades, and the longer they are held there the more likely it is that the spindle fails to separate the homologous chromosomes correctly when meiosis I finally completes.

  3. 3

    At what age does a woman's fertility begin to decline, and why does the decline steepen later?

    Model answer

    It begins to decline from the early thirties and falls steeply after about 37, because the number of follicles remaining and the proportion of oocytes able to divide without chromosome errors are both falling at once.

  4. 4

    State two consequences of increased non-disjunction in older oocytes.

    Model answer

    There is a higher chance of an embryo with an abnormal chromosome number, such as trisomy 21, and a higher chance of early miscarriage.

  5. 5

    Why does blood FSH concentration rise as a woman approaches the menopause?

    Model answer

    Fewer follicles remain to be recruited, so less oestrogen and less inhibin are secreted, the negative feedback on the anterior pituitary weakens and more FSH is released.

  6. 6

    Why is a raised FSH concentration useful as an indicator of approaching menopause?

    Model answer

    It reflects the size of the remaining follicle pool directly, so it rises before periods stop and gives a measurable sign of declining ovarian function.

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