Molecular Mechanisms Determining Mammalian Oocyte Quality: Oocyte Developmental Competence, Aneuploidy, and Clinical Relevance

As the age of childbearing increases, reduced female gamete (egg) quality has emerged as the primaery cause of infertility in women. This book addresses molecular mechanisms that regulate oocyte quality as well as intrinsic and extrinsic factors that compromise these mechanisms.

Eggs are produced through a unique cell division called meiosis. Oocyte meiosis is initiated early in fetal life. Shortly before birth, the oocyte undergoes a prolonged arrest at prophase I until the age of puberty,...