Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 22, 2026

Gonadectomy and Blood Sampling Procedures in the Small Size Teleost Model Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes)
05:31

Gonadectomy and Blood Sampling Procedures in the Small Size Teleost Model Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes)

Published on: December 11, 2020

[Effects of cancer treatments on gonads]

Kirsi Jahnukainen1

  • 1HUS, lasten ja nuorten sairaala, Astrid Lindgrenin lastensairaala, lasten endokrinologian laboratorio, Tukholma.

Duodecim; Laaketieteellinen Aikakauskirja
|May 24, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy can damage gonads, affecting fertility and potentially leading to premature menopause in women, while preserving testosterone production in men.

Area of Science:

  • Reproductive medicine
  • Oncology
  • Endocrinology

Context:

  • Cancer therapies, including high-dose cytotoxic drugs and radiotherapy targeting the whole body, pelvic region, or head, pose a risk of gonadal damage.
  • Cancer treatments significantly impact male and female reproductive systems, with distinct effects on sperm and oocyte production.

Purpose:

  • To outline the risks of gonadal damage associated with cancer treatments.
  • To describe the specific effects of cancer therapies on male and female reproductive cells and function.

Summary:

  • Cytotoxic drugs and radiotherapy can harm sperm production in men, though testosterone levels are often maintained.
  • In women, these treatments accelerate primordial follicle loss, inhibit ovarian follicle development, and cause fibrosis, reducing the oocyte pool.
  • While some young women may achieve pregnancy post-treatment, they face an elevated risk of early menopause.

Impact:

  • Understanding these risks is crucial for fertility preservation strategies in cancer patients.
  • This knowledge aids in managing long-term reproductive health and endocrine function after cancer therapy.
  • Informs counseling for patients regarding potential fertility loss and menopause onset.

More Related Videos

Detecting Anastasis In Vivo by CaspaseTracker Biosensor20:16

Detecting Anastasis In Vivo by CaspaseTracker Biosensor

Published on: February 1, 2018

Related Concept Videos

Cancer Therapies02:49

Cancer Therapies

Cancer therapies are various modes of treatment, such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy that are administered to cancer patients.
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
Cancer Therapies02:49

Cancer Therapies

Cancer therapies are various modes of treatment, such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy that are administered to cancer patients.
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
Spermatogenesis01:41

Spermatogenesis

Spermatogenesis is the process by which haploid sperm cells are produced in the male testes. It starts with stem cells located close to the outer rim of seminiferous tubules. These spermatogonial stem cells divide asymmetrically to give rise to additional stem cells (meaning that these structures “self-renew”), as well as sperm progenitors, called spermatocytes. Importantly, this method of asymmetric mitotic division maintains a population of spermatogonial stem cells in the male reproductive...
Biological Effects of Radiation02:59

Biological Effects of Radiation

All radioactive nuclides emit high-energy particles or electromagnetic waves. When this radiation encounters living cells, it can cause heating, break chemical bonds, or ionize molecules. The most serious biological damage results when these radioactive emissions fragment or ionize molecules. For example, α and β particles emitted from nuclear decay reactions possess much higher energies than ordinary chemical bond energies. When these particles strike and penetrate matter, they produce ions...
Oogenesis02:07

Oogenesis

In human women, oogenesis produces one mature egg cell or ovum for every precursor cell that enters meiosis. This process differs in two unique ways from the equivalent procedure of spermatogenesis in males. First, meiotic divisions during oogenesis are asymmetric, meaning that a large oocyte (containing most of the cytoplasm) and minor polar body are produced as a result of meiosis I, and again following meiosis II. Since only oocytes will go on to form embryos if fertilized, this unequal...
Cancer-Critical Genes II: Tumor Suppressor Genes01:05

Cancer-Critical Genes II: Tumor Suppressor Genes

Genes usually encode proteins necessary for the proper functioning of a healthy cell. Mutations can often cause changes to the gene expression pattern, thereby altering the phenotype.
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...