Greek Scientists Find a ‘Way to Reverse Menopause’

Researchers in Greece have developed a new blood treatment that can supposedly help post-menopausal women resume releasing eggs, making motherhood potentially possible at any age.

For the study, the team used a blood treatment normally used to help wounds heal faster to reverse the effects of menopause in several women who participated in the study–including a woman who went through early menopause at age 35, five years prior to the study. [1]

As society advances, many women are putting off motherhood until their 30’s or even early 40’s. Many women are also turning to in vitro fertilization to help them have their long-awaited off-spring. However, often times it is costly and not always guaranteed to work. This new treatment could mean that women no longer have that ill-fated biological clock.

The treatment could also help the one percent of women who suffer from early menopause, or the cessation of menstruation before the age of 40. Most women experience menopause around an average age of 50.

The findings were presented in Finland’s European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology annual meeting. The Athens-based researchers stated that they injected platelet-rich plasma (PRP), which can stimulate muscle and tissue regeneration, into the subjects’ ovaries. The women who received the treatment then began to menstruate again.

The woman involved in the project who went through menopause early was not only able to restart her cycle, but was also able to release three eggs, two of which have been fertilized with her partner’s sperm. When they are able to fertilize three eggs, the team will implant them into her uterus and hope she will be able to carry a baby to term.

Although the work has yet to be peer-reviewed, Konstantinos Sfakianoudis, the lead researcher on the study, stated:

“It seems to work in about two-thirds of cases. We see changes in biochemical patterns, a restoration of menses, and egg recruitment and fertilisation.”

The team injected 30 women with the PRP, and about 20 of them were able to restart their menses.

If, after further study, this treatment is found to be effective, it could be groundbreaking for women wanting both children later in life.

Sources:

[1] The Independent