REVIEW article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Reproduction
This article is part of the Research TopicOvarian Aging: Pathophysiology and Recent Development of Maintaining Ovarian Reserve, Volume IVView all 16 articles
Female reproductive capacity preservation: Antioxidant Strategies in Combating Ovarian Aging and Cryopreservation Challenges
Provisionally accepted
- 1Xiangtan Central Hospital, Xiangtan, China
- 2University of South China, Hengyang, China
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The preservation of female fertility represents a pivotal area of focus within reproductive medicine, particularly in addressing ovarian damage resulting from oncological treatments and the decline in fertility associated with aging. Since the inaugural successful cryopreservation of a human oocyte in 1986, technological advancements have provided women with a form of "fertility insurance." Nevertheless, oxidative stress exerts a profound influence on oocyte quality and the outcomes of cryopreservation. An overproduction of ROS leads to mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damage, and chromosomal aneuploidy, especially in women of advanced reproductive age, thereby diminishing oocyte quality. Oxidative stress interferes with spindle assembly, chromosome cohesion, and spindle assembly checkpoints, thereby elevating aneuploidy rates. During the cryo-preservation process, oxidative stress prompts apoptosis and follicular loss in both oocytes and ovarian tissue, thereby undermining the success of fertility preservation efforts. Anti-oxidants such as coenzyme Q10, melatonin, and nicotinamide have been shown to mitigate oxidative stress, enhance mitochondrial function, reduce apoptosis, and im-prove the quality of oocytes and the success rates of ovarian tissue cryopreservation. This review critically examines the effects of oxidative stress on oocyte development and cryopreservation, and investigates the potential of antioxidant interventions.
Keywords: Antioxidant interventions, Female fertility preservation, Ovarian aging, Oxidative Stress, ROS
Received: 23 Sep 2025; Accepted: 31 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xie, Zhang, Lin, Haiying and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xianghong Huang
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