Clinical Strategies for Counteracting Human Ovarian Aging: Molecular Background, Update, and Outlook

Ovarian aging (OA) results from the senescence of different cell types present in the ovary, decreasing female fertility and quality of life and augmenting the risk of a variety of fertility-unrelated pathological conditions. The changes observed in the ovarian cells are accompanied by changes occurring in various elements of the hypothalamic–pituitary–ovarian (HPO) axis, the complex endocrine system that regulates the female reproductive cycle. Issues pertaining to the HPO axis have been addressed in animal models via hormonal treatments with preparations inhibiting ovarian follicular recruitment at the level of the receptors of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-secreting neurons, mainly acting on glutamate- and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-driven signaling. GnRH agonists and antagonists have also been used in women exposed to chemotherapeutics. HPO-independent OA can be delayed through the administration of different antioxidants and mitochondria-protecting agents, among which melatonin has been shown to be particularly useful. Other therapeutic approaches used with success in women include hormonal and growth factor (GF) modulators, such as growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF), and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and the development of patient-tailored combination-based therapies (IGF-1 + VEGF + DHEA) has also been suggested. Intraovarian injection of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP), mitochondrial donation through pronuclear transfer, and ovarian tissue cryopreservation and autotransplantation have also yielded promising results in women, and their use can preserve not only fertility but also the ovarian endocrine function. Personalized mixtures of specific agents (desatinib, quercetin, rapamycin, metformin, resveratrol, melatonin, and coenzyme Q10) targeting different cell types in the ovary are currently under investigation. Overall, this review aims to present a global view of the subject, uniting the physiological and molecular background of this pathology with the history and development of potential treatment strategies and new perspectives in this domain. As such, this study may be helpful both to clinicians facing problems resulting from OA and to researchers pursuing further developments in this field.