Even before Birth, the Body Tries to Eliminate the Poorest Quality Egg Cells (IMAGE)

Carnegie Institution for Science

Even before Birth, the Body Tries to Eliminate the Poorest Quality Egg Cells

Caption

This image displays the dramatic increase in the endowment of immature egg cells in newborn mice when the Fetal Oocyte Attrition is prevented from occurring. Shown in white is an ovary exposed to normal physiological activity of the jumping gene LINE-1. Shown in purple is an ovary that's been treated with AZT to inhibit LINE-1 and mutated to turn off the DNA damage checkpoint Chk2. The nuclei of individual immature egg cells are labeled by a germ cell-specific marker.

Credit

Photograph is courtesy of Marla Tharp and Navid Marvi

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