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Longevity and Reproductive Aging · Reproductive Aging

Can ovarian aging be delayed by pharmacological strategies?

Zhang J, Chen Q, Du D, Wu T, Wen J, Wu M, Zhang Y, Yan W, Zhou S, Li Y, Jin Y, Luo A, Wang S

Aging, 2019
DOI 10.18632/aging.101784 PMID 30674710 PMC PMC6366956

RRM Academy Synopsis

Several drugs and supplements delayed ovarian aging in animal studies

Many drugs and supplements slowed ovarian aging in animals and lab tests, and human evidence is limited. A 2019 review of published studies, written at a Chinese hospital, reports this.

Key Findings

  • Antioxidants reviewed include vitamins C and E, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, curcumin, coenzyme Q10, proanthocyanidin and quercetin. Much of the cited evidence comes from mice, rats and hens.
  • Caloric restriction delayed ovarian aging in rodents. Metformin, 2-deoxy-glucose, tamoxifen and rapamycin were studied as mimics. One cited study found metformin had no significant effect on ovarian reserve.
  • Melatonin delayed ovarian aging in mice and rats. The one clinical study described gave melatonin for six months to perimenopausal and postmenopausal women aged 42 to 62.
  • Cited studies in patients with diminished ovarian reserve report DHEA supplementation improved ovarian markers such as AMH and antral follicle count. The authors add that long-term DHEA treatment may affect follicle development.
  • The authors report no drugs yet target microRNAs to delay ovarian aging, and few target autophagy. Many traditional Chinese medicine results cited come from rat and mouse experiments.

Interpretation

A narrative review summarizes published studies. The authors describe a broad collection of literature and give no search method. Much of the cited work used mice, rats, hens, cows or cell cultures. The review reports no new data and no pooled results. The authors write that some drugs may delay ovarian aging. Several sections call for more research, including human trials of proanthocyanidin and further study of metformin in women.

RRM Context

Restorative reproductive medicine asks why a couple's fertility has changed, and age is one answer among several. Cycle charting and evaluation of both partners can show whether ovulation, hormones or male factors also contribute. Candidate drugs in a review like this belong to future research. AMH describes follicle supply, and RRM clinicians read it alongside the cycle.

Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.

Abstract

1. Aging (Albany NY). 2019 Jan 23;11(2):817-832. doi: 10.18632/aging.101784.

Can ovarian aging be delayed by pharmacological strategies?

Zhang J(1), Chen Q(1), Du D(1), Wu T(1), Wen J(1), Wu M(1), Zhang Y(1), Yan W(1), Zhou S(1), Li Y(1), Jin Y(1), Luo A(1), Wang S(1).

Author information: (1)Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.

Aging has been regarded as a treatable condition, and delaying aging could prevent some diseases. Ovarian aging, a special type of organ senescence, is the earliest-aging organ, as ovaries exhibit an accelerated rate of aging with characteristics of gradual declines in ovarian follicle quantity and quality since birth, compared to other organs. Ovarian aging is considered as the pacemaker of female body aging, which drives the aging of multiple organs of the body. Hence, anti-ovarian aging has become a research topic broadly interesting to both biomedical scientists and pharmaceutical industry. A marked progress has been made in exploration of possible anti-ovarian agents or approaches, such as calorie restriction mimetics, antioxidants, autophagy inducers etc., over the past years. This review is attempted to discuss recent advances in the area of anti-ovarian aging pharmacology and to offer new insights into our better understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying ovarian aging, which might be informative for future prevention and treatment of ovarian aging and its related diseases.

DOI: 10.18632/aging.101784 PMCID: PMC6366956 PMID: 30674710 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

Competing Interests

The authors have no conflicts of interest.

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Longevity and Reproductive Aging › Reproductive Aging › Ovarian Aging · Therapeutics › Supplements and Botanicals › Antioxidant Supplements
Qian Chen
Q Chen
PMID 30674710 30674710 DOI 10.18632/aging.101784 10.18632/aging.101784 Zhang et al. 2019, Zhang 2019

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