A DNA test under development by scientists could now aid in telling a lady even at eighteen years of age, how many fertile years she has left.

The test monitors the pace of the biological clock and divulges the number of eggs a woman has remaining – thus beeping early on of dipping fertility.

In case the test comes out affirmative, then a woman could take proactive steps like starting a family earlier or freezing some of her eggs for increasing conception chances when she is in her thirties.

The advancement ensues the unravelling of the gene known as Fragile X that shows the pace of a lady’s decline of egg supply over the span of years.

Prof. Norbert Gleicher, from the Centre For Human Reproduction, New York vouches for the effectuality of this method that could test the Fragile X gene of an eighteen or twenty year old girl and offer quite accurate forecast if she bears a risk.

Women by birth have a restricted number of immature eggs in stock, or follicles present in their ovaries. Merely an infinitesimal portion transform into mature eggs.

This egg supply tends to gradually deplete with time. A newly born girl would have 1-2 million follicles that would lower to four lakhs when she becomes an adolescent and as she touches her forties, only some hundred or so are left.

The number of ovaries remnant in the ovaries would provide a good hint of the number of years of fertility still left. Several women on reaching thirty-five years undergo a steep decline in their ovarian supply.

However mounting facts reveal that 1 among 20 women undergoes ‘premature ovarian ageing’ and visits their fertility specialist even in their twenties.

Previous researches have revealed the strong connection between few Fragile X versions and untimely menopause – losing fertility prior to forty-five years of age.

Dr. Gleicher has illustrated how the gene could additionally show if the woman has a likelihood of ovarian ageing early on. He carried out tests on 316 women wherein he observed that there was a strong association in between Fragile X gene and the amount of eggs that matured in the ovaries.

By evaluating the DNA outline that constitute the gene, vitally the number of occasions that a certain DNA strand recurs in the gene, Dr. Gleicher thinks he could find out the risk of a depleting egg supply.

He anticipates making the test obtainable by the subsequent year in the trial phase to locate women that are at increasing risk.

In case the test gives an affirmative outcome, then those women would be offered a back-up hormonal test for corroborating whether their egg reserve is quickly depleting.

Other scientists have pointed out that the study requires to be carried out on more number of women that should be observed for many years.

Dr. Stephanie Sherman, from the Emory University, Atlanta stated that some form of follow-up studies is needed to check whether the tests truly forecast long-standing occurrences.

Dr. Frank Broekmans from the University Medical Centre, Utrecht, Netherlands emphasized that though their average probability might be lesser, not all the cases of women having lesser egg supply have difficulty in conceiving.

Majority of the women become menopausal when they reach fifty years of age, when the ovaries stop egg production.

During the initial part of the current year, fertility doctor from Britain, Prof. Bill Ledger stated that women need to undergo ‘fertility MoT’ at the age of thirty for finding how fast their biological clock is racing. He has evolved a blood test that analyses hormonal levels for gauging a woman’s ovarian supply.

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