Abstracts
Why understanding new blood vessel growth is essential for combating ovarian disease and improving reproductive success
Hannah Brown
Masters student, University of Adelaide,
Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Supervised through Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Adelaide
Blood vessels form intricate networks that transport blood throughout the entire human body. The blood vessels allow molecules and cells to flow and "traffic" from one tissue to another, providing organs like the brain, skin and muscles with oxygen and energy and removing unwanted waste.
Blood vessels play a role in virtually every medical condition, and understanding how their growth and function is controlled will provide new tools to fight a wide range of diseases. For example growing tumors recruit and organise a robust blood supply to provide the nutrients required for its continued expansion. Cardiovascular disease, which affects more than 3.5 million Australian men and women annually, is a result of damage to blood vessels.
Like other organs, the ovary also requires an intricate blood vessel network to supply it with the nutrients and to facilitate the endocrine communication required to allow healthy oocytes (eggs) to mature and achieve competence to be fertilised and eventually develop into a healthy baby.
My research has identified the key molecules regulating blood vessel growth into the ovary and has shown these are controlled by female endocrine hormones to generate formation of a complex pattern of new blood vessels during every menstral cycle.
Defining the control of blood vessel growth, or angiogenesis, in the ovary is essential in understanding the requirements which promote or limit healthy oocyte development. Our discovery of these normal processes will have important applications in women experiencing reproductive disorders including PCOS and early (premature) menopause, will identify pathways causing infertility and thereby provide new options for diagnosis and treatment. Also, it will help to shed light on a serious and life-threatening condition, Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) which is a complication of reproductive technologies including in vitro fertilisation (IVF) as well as ovarian cancer, which affects 1/90 Australian women.
