The real key to improving egg quality!

　The question of how to increase and improve egg quality faster in a short period of time has always been the most important concern of all our pregnant sisters. You may have taken a lot of nutritional supplements, and even Chinese and Western medicines, but how can you scientifically and systematically improve the quality of your eggs? Is it possible to improve?
　　In fact, to improve the quality of eggs, the dark horse is not biochemical methods or exercise, really behind the scenes to play a major role in the mitochondria!

　　What are mitochondria?
　　Mitochondria is an important double membrane structure of the cell organelle, its diameter is about 0.5-1.0 microns. Mitochondria have been compared to the cell’s ‘energy factory’, because it is the main place of aerobic respiration, can convert nutrients into energy for cell use. Its main function is to produce ATP for cellular energy supply, known as the cell’s ‘power plant’, but also in the cell metabolism, calcium homeostasis, fatty acid oxidation and apoptosis also play an important role in the process, is one of the indispensable organelles to maintain the health of the organism.
　　Where do mitochondria come from?
　　Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is maternally inherited, i.e., a mother passes on mtDNA to all her children, but only her daughters pass on their mtDNA to the next generation. That’s right, this is the only living tie between every human being and their mother.
　　In other words, all your mitochondria came from your mum, who got her mitochondria from your grandmother, and your dad’s mitochondria came from your grandmother, but your grandmother’s mitochondria can’t continue to be passed on to you once they reach your dad. Everyone’s mitochondria come from their mother.
　　In fact, in the field of genetic diseases, there is a very small percentage of genetic diseases called mitochondrial genetic diseases. These genetic diseases can only be passed from mother to child. Strictly speaking, they can only be passed on from the egg to the child.
　　Functions of mitochondria
　　The function of mitochondria is actually a lot, but the main one is to provide energy to the cells, these energy is not only used for cell division, but also used for some special cellular special functions, such as in the cardiac muscle cells, mitochondria accounted for about 40 per cent of the space, a high percentage of mitochondria for the ‘heartbeat’ to provide energy.
　　Cell division is essential for the continuation of life. For example, the skin flakes that are shed are apoptotic cells, and the reason why the skin is not getting thinner is because the skin cells are constantly being renewed to maintain the proper thickness of the skin.
　　When cells divide, mitochondria also divide. These ‘divisions’ are dynamic, continuous, and happen all the time. When a cell is ready to split in two, hundreds of mitochondria have doubled themselves, and half of them will enter the body of the new cell.
　　Fourth, the relationship between mitochondria and reproduction
　　1. Sperm
　　In spermatozoa, mitochondria gather at the tail of the spermatozoon to provide energy for the spermatozoon.
　　In the natural state, some of the sperm will ‘cut off’ their tails when entering the egg to prevent the mitochondria from entering the egg. Another part of the sperm carries its own mitochondria into the egg, but these mitochondria from the father are soon encapsulated in a membrane and digested by enzymes. This process is called ‘autophagy’. Eventually, only the mother’s mitochondria will be present in the embryo and provide energy for its growth.
　　In recent years, research has shown that if the mitochondria from the sperm fail to ‘autophagy’ in the egg, or if ‘autophagy’ is delayed, this can lead to embryo termination. Of course, this is only one of the causes of embryo sterilisation, and it is something we cannot change at the moment.
　　2. Eggs
　　Mitochondria are the quality markers of the egg, so they are also called the ‘life source’ of the egg.
　　There are about 100,000 mitochondria in each early human oocyte. The number of mitochondria in the precursor cells randomly decreases to 10-100, while the number of mitochondria in the oogonia that migrate to the ovary reaches 200, and the primary oocyte contains about 5,000 mitochondria, which increase to 100,000 after the oocyte matures.
　　Mitochondria also age, in large part due to the fact that the body is constantly being infected, producing or ingesting toxic substances such as viruses, free radicals and heavy metals. These ‘nasties’ come not only from within the body, but also from the outside, and they slowly accumulate, slowly preventing the production of mitochondria and their functioning.
　　This leads directly to the aging of cells, including oocytes. When the mitochondria are not able to provide sufficient energy, it makes the chances of chromosomes segregating incorrectly within the cell higher and higher, which is one of the reasons why embryos from older women have a high percentage of chromosomal aneuploidy.
　　Unfortunately, this situation is irreversible.

　V. Mitochondrial therapy techniques
　　1、Supplementation of Coenzyme Q10 (coenzymeQ10,CoQ10) CoQ10 is a coenzyme (catalyst), one of the components of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which has two main roles:
　　✅ It plays an important role in the production of ATP by mitochondria;
　　✅ It has a significant anti-peroxidative effect.
　　In humans, the ability to synthesise Coenzyme Q10 autonomously peaks at the age of 20, and is maintained until about 50 years of age. After that, it declines year by year, causing a decline in the function of human cells, especially cardiomyocytes, and aging of skeletal muscles (‘old age’). Supplementation of Coenzyme Q10 helps to improve the efficiency of mitochondrial respiration.
　　2、Supplement MitoQ
　　MitoQ is a new anti-ROS star, and is representative of mitochondria-targeted antioxidants. It produces a ‘super version’ of coenzyme Q, which is 1,000 times more abundant than existing coenzyme Q supplements when condensed in mitochondria.
　　3, can also take resveratrol (Resveratrol)
　　Resveratrol is known as the mitochondrial ‘God of protection’. It is a polyphenol compound in grapes and red wine, which can promote mitochondrial biosynthesis, increase the volume and density of mitochondria in skeletal muscle, increase the number of mtDNA, and improve the activity of mitochondrial enzymes and the mitochondrial oxidative capacity. In mouse experiments, it prolongs life by protecting mitochondria.
　　4、Supplementation of creatine monohydrate
　　To promote ATP synthesis, improve the ability of rapid muscle contraction, improve speed endurance and explosive power, and so on. However, these medications can only be used as ‘auxiliary treatment’, and cannot eliminate the root cause of mitochondrial problems, so some people call it ‘treating the symptoms but not the root cause’.
　　5、Correction of mutated mitochondrial genes
　　It is to use the molecular scalpel (gene editing) technology to operate on the mutated mitochondrial DNA to achieve the purpose of correction.
　　6、Mitochondrial autotransplantation
　　Although the DNA carried in mitochondria accounts for only 0.0005% of the entire human genetic code, and ‘our personality, appearance, and everything that makes us who we are and not who we are are are determined by the nuclear DNA of the cell’. But allogeneic mitochondrial replacement or transplantation ultimately raises a host of ethical and legal issues, and opponents see the technology as a step towards human cloning and ‘designer babies’.
　　So scientists have explored other options – mitochondrial autotransplantation, in which mitochondria from other cellular sources in the patient’s own body are transplanted into the patient’s eggs.
　　The first cells used for autologous mitochondrial transplantation were the granulosa cells surrounding the egg. The technique was applied in 2001 by Professor Tseng Chi-Rui in Taiwan and resulted in successful pregnancies.
　　In 2014, TCARTFertilityPartners in Canada, in collaboration with OvaScience, used autologous ovarian stem cell mitochondrial transplantation, in which a small piece of the patient’s ovarian tissue was cut out laparoscopically, from which ovarian stem cells were isolated, and then mitochondria were extracted from the ovarian stem cells and transplanted into an egg, which was fertilised with sperm to form an embryo and transferred to a successful birth on On 7 April 2015, the first ‘stem cell baby’ was born.
　　Zain Rajani, the first autologous mitochondrial transplant ‘stem cell baby’, and his parents.
　　Mitochondria have a huge impact on reproduction, and much of it has to do with the external environment. Every sip of water we drink and every breath of air we breathe has a small factor that impairs mitochondrial function. With cigarettes, alcohol, cosmetics, hair dyes, reprocessed foods, we are losing the ability to produce the next generation while enjoying the convenience of life.
　　We are all victims, but at the same time we are all murderers. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to change it.