title: Perspective in infertility: the ovarian stem cells.
abstract: Infertility is a medical and social condition that affects millions of women worldwide and is today considered so far as a new disease. A considerable progress has been recently pursued in the field of the reproductive medicine and the infertility treatment may account for novel and modern procedures such as in vitro oocyte fertilization, egg donation, pregnancy surrogacy and preimplantation diagnosis. However, great interest has lately been reserved to the ovarian stem cells (OSCs) whose existence in woman ovaries has been proven. OSCs are thus suitable for developmental studies in infertility and in other clinical applications as endocrine derangements due to premature ovarian failure, or for infertility treatment after cancer chemotherapies, as well as in restoring the hormonal balance in postmenopausal age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, Division of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Bari 'Aldo Moro', P.za Giulio Cesare, 11, Bari, 70124, Italy. ericasilvestris85@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Silvestris
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, Division of Molecular Oncology, University of Bari 'Aldo Moro', Conversano, Bari, Italy. ester86d@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Stella
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: D'Oronzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, Division of Molecular Oncology, University of Bari 'Aldo Moro', Conversano, Bari, Italy. paola.cafforio@uniba.it.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cafforio
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, ASL Bari, PT Jaia, Reproduction and IVF Unit, University of Bari 'Aldo Moro', Conversano, Bari, Italy. g.damato@iol.it.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: D'Amato
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, Division of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Bari 'Aldo Moro', P.za Giulio Cesare, 11, Bari, 70124, Italy. giueppe.loverro@uniba.it.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Loverro
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000628:therapy*; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology; D010053:Ovary / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation; D011247:Pregnancy; D016649:Primary Ovarian Insufficiency / Q000628:therapy; D013234:Stem Cells