Ovaries age in a different manner as compared to testes, a new study has found. It also added that overall the aging process in reproductive organs is different from other body tissues.
In the study, researchers from the National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, USA, have found that aging leads to large changes in gene activity in the ovaries of mice, but only limited changes in testes.A lifespan-extending calorie-restricted diet reversed some of the aging effects - but, unlike the widespread changes observed in somatic organs, it had an impact only in a small number of gonad-specific genes.
Tackling one of the key questions of ageing, if reproductive organs age in the same way as other body organs, this study is important in the light of the trend for some women in developed countries to put off childbearing until later in life.
Led by Minoru Ko, MD, PhD, the research team used whole-genome DNA microarrays to study the effects of age, sex and diet on the global gene expression in mouse ovaries and testes.
They found that reproductive organs age in a different way to other body tissues and, furthermore, that ovaries age in a different way from testes.
Age-related changes in gene expression occurred in gonads, as they are known to in other body tissues, but these changes tended to be in different classes of genes.
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The changes seen in ovaries could be influenced by changes in the tissue composition of ovaries as females age and ovulation ceases.
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However, male mice on the same diet did not appear to sacrifice reproductive function, suggesting an evolutionary difference between males and females when coping with a food shortage.
The study is published in the open-access journal, BMC Biology.
Source-ANI
RAS/L
