For women concerned about declining ovarian reserve
one important question is :
what is actually happening inside the ovary as it ages?
A 2024 study from the Reproductive Medicine Centre, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University investigated whether dandelion extract SHAWKEA T-1 could influence ovarian function and explored one potential mechanism - the survival of ovarian granulosa cells.
(The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), General Program No. 82071643. 蒲公英提取物通过抗凋亡作用治疗卵巢功能减退的机制研究)
Why are granulosa cells important?
An ovarian follicle isn't simply an egg sitting by itself.
The developing oocyte is surrounded by granulosa cells, which provide important nutritional, regulatory and developmental support. When granulosa cells undergo excessive apoptosis, a “programmed cell death”, follicles can undergo atresia and stop developing.
This is one of the biological processes associated with ovarian ageing and declining ovarian function.
So, the researchers asked an interesting question:
Could SHAWKEA T-1 influence this process?
Study 1: T-1 and ovarian follicles in ageing mice
Researchers used naturally ageing female mice in the menopausal transition as a model of declining ovarian function.
The mice receiving T-1 were given the oral liquid twice daily for 30 days. Researchers then examined ovarian tissue and counted antral follicles (AFC), an important marker used when assessing ovarian reserve.
The results showed a substantial difference.
Average antral follicle count:
Ageing control mice: 1.3 ± 0.3
Ageing mice receiving T-1: 5.2 ± 0.4
Young mice: 6.7 ± 0.3
The increase observed in the T-1 group compared with the ageing control group was statistically significant (P < 0.01).
The histology shown in Figure 1 of the paper also illustrates the difference in ovarian antral follicles between the control, T-1 and young-mouse groups.
Study 2: What happened to human ovarian granulosa cells?
The researchers then investigated a possible mechanism using KGN cells, a human granulosa-cell line.
Cells were incubated with T-1 for 36 hours, and apoptosis was measured using two different methods:
flow cytometry and TUNEL staining.
Both analyses showed that the cells exposed to T-1 had a significantly lower rate of apoptosis than the relevant comparison groups.
In simple terms, the findings suggest that T-1 may help protect granulosa cells from programmed cell death under these experimental conditions.
Because granulosa cells play an important role in supporting developing follicles and oocytes, the researchers proposed this anti-apoptotic effect as one possible mechanism behind the ovarian findings observed in the animal model.
Looking deeper: 84 apoptosis-related genes
The researchers didn't stop at observing the cells.
They used a PCR array examining 84 genes associated with apoptosis and programmed cell death.
Following T-1 exposure, 24 genes showed statistically significant changes in expression compared with the control group: 20 were downregulated and four were upregulated.
This provides another potential clue as to how T-1 may influence pathways involved in granulosa-cell survival.
Importantly, however, the researchers themselves state that the specific regulatory pathways require further experimental investigation.
What does this mean for ovarian ageing?
Taken together, this study provides two particularly interesting findings.
In a naturally ageing mouse model, T-1 administration was associated with a significantly higher number of antral follicles. In cultured human granulosa cells, T-1 exposure was associated with significantly reduced apoptosis.
These results support further investigation into whether modulating granulosa-cell apoptosis could be one mechanism through which SHAWKEA T-1 influences ovarian function.
There is also earlier research cited by the authors reporting increased expression of estrogen receptors α and β in reproductive tissues of female mice receiving T-1, suggesting that more than one biological pathway may be involved.
What the study does and doesn't prove?
This distinction is important.
The ovarian follicle experiment was performed in mice, while the apoptosis experiment used a cultured human granulosa-cell line. This study therefore does not demonstrate that taking T-1 increases ovarian reserve, improves egg quality, increases AMH or improves pregnancy/live-birth rates in women.
Instead, it provides preclinical evidence and a potential biological mechanism that can now be investigated further.
The authors similarly conclude that T-1 improved ovarian hypofunction in their animal model and propose reduced granulosa-cell apoptosis as a possible underlying mechanism.
Reference
Wang L, Liu M, Liu S, Dong X, Che Q. Study on the effect and mechanism of dandelion extract in the treatment of ovarian hypofunction. Chinese Journal of Reproductive Health. 2024;35(6):509–513.