Inhibin and reproductive aging in women

The monotropic FSH rise is the sentinel endocrine event that first indicate s a woman is approaching the end of her reproductive potential. While a def iciency in inhibin has long been postulated as the immediate cause of the m onotropic FSH rise, this has only recently been demonstrated to actually oc cur. It is our current hypothesis that when the number of preantral follicl es in both ovaries drop below a threshold, then there is a subtle decrease in inhibin B which leads to the monotropic FSH rise which, in turn, acceler ates follicular depletion and the attainment of the menopause. (C) 1998 Els evier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.