Transplantation of fetal germ cells

Oogonial stem cells are short-lived and endow the ovary with its lifetime store of follicles during fetal life. No compensatory mechanisms exist to replace germ cells that are lost for whatever reason after birth. Fetal germ cells and the abundant primordial follicles of immature animals can be successfully stored at low temperatures and transplanted to hosts to generate normal ovulatory cycles. Sterilized hosts are restored to fertility. Such results suggest that the abundant reserves of germ cells in the ovaries of human abortuses offer opportunities for treating patients whose sterility is due to afollicular ovaries uncomplicated by autoimmune disease. The prospects for this treatment depend largely on the vigilance of the recipient's immune system and public attitudes to a radical treatment, though one that promises to overcome sterility and hypoestrogenism in women with either premature menopause or gonadal dysgenesis.