Wang, S. et al. Cell 180, 585–600 (2020)

Ovarian aging is associated with a decrease in follicle number and oocyte quality, resulting in a gradual decline in female fertility. The molecular mechanisms driving ovarian aging remain unclear, hampering the development of interventions to treat female infertility and age-associated ovarian diseases, such as ovarian cancer.

In a new study published in Cell, a team of investigators from China and USA performed a single-cell transcriptomic analysis of ovaries from young and old cynomolgus monkeys; comparison of gene expression profiles in the different cell types present in the ovaries of the nonhuman primates (NHP) revealed changes in antioxidant signaling in oocytes and granulosa cells with aging, which indicates that oxidative damage is a crucial factor in ovarian functional decline.