Postnatal oogenesis?

There has been some stuff in the news [abstract] recently about new findings related to Oogonial Stem Cells. It has traditionally been believed that all of the oocyctes (eggs) in a human female’s body are present when she is born and that the system which produced the eggs no longer creates new ones after this. There is possible evidence that this is might not the case.

The process by which oocytes develop is in fact a very complex one which is difficult to understand.

From the abstract at plosgenetics.org:

We think a more logical explanation for the observations of Reizel et al. is that oocytes present in ovaries of older females arise from postnatal oogenesis, as successive mitotic divisions of OSCs (oogonial stem cells, also referred to as female germline stem cells or fGSCs) with age give rise to new “deeper” oocytes.

and:

The recent work of Shapiro and colleagues is one of the first reports to offer experimental data consistent with a role for postnatal oocyte renewal in contributing to the reserve of ovarian follicles available for use in adult females as they age. Although unequivocal conclusions cannot be made at this point regarding the basis of the increase in oocyte depth described by Reizel et al., their work is nonetheless an exciting and important addition to our understanding of reproductive biology and the origin of mammalian oocytes.