Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 10 pp 9686—9713

Ovulation and ovarian wound healing are impaired with advanced reproductive age

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Figure 13. The OSE exhibits aberrant morphologies in reproductively old ovaries. (A) Representative 40X image of the OSE in an ovary from a reproductively young mouse. (B) Representative 40X image of the OSE in an ovary from a reproductively old mouse. Arrowheads indicate invaginations of the OSE into the ovarian stroma. (C) Graph showing the average thickness of the OSE for all reproductively young and old mice. N = 10 ovaries per age group, each ovary was analyzed in triplicate or quadruplicate (N = 34 measurements for reproductively young ovaries, N = 35 measurements for reproductively old ovaries). (D) The graph shows the number of invaginations per ovary section for all mice. N = 10 ovaries per age group. (E) Representative image of an aged ovary. Arrowheads indicate epithelial growths. (F) High magnification region of the boxed region in (E) depicting an epithelial outgrowth. (G) The graph shows the mean number of epithelial outgrowths per ovary section for all mice. N = 10 ovaries per age group. T-tests were performed on all measured parameters with asterisks indicating significant differences (C: P = 0.007; D: P < 0.0001; E: P = 0.0007). Scale bars are (A, B, F) 50 μm and (E) 200 μm. Data are represented as mean ± SEM (C, D, G). N = 10 ovaries per age group.