ovarian reserve

Last reviewed 01/2018

• a term which describes the functional potential of the ovary, which constitutes the size of the ovarian follicle pool and reflects the number and quality of the oocytes which are within it
  
  
  • on an average, a female foetus contains about 7 million oocytes at birth, million at puberty and about 40,0000 oocytes at the onset of the menstrual cycle
    
    
  • a fixed proportion of the remaining oocytes become recruited i.e sensitized to the gonadotrophins, from which one or two will achieve dominance and will progress to ovulation