Question

A human female has the maximum number of primary oocytes in her ovaries

• A. At menopause
• B. At puberty
• C. At birth
• D. Early in her fertile years

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

At birth

Ovaries are females gonads that produce ova and female hormones. The process of formation of a mature female gamete is called as oogenesis, which is markedly different from spermatogenesis. Oogenesis is initiated during the embryonic development stage when a couple of million gamete mother cells (oogonia) are formed within each fetal ovary; no more oogonia are formed and added after birth. These cells start division and enter into prophase I of the meiotic division and get temporarily arrested at that stage called as primary oocytes. Each primary oocyte, then gets surrounded by a layer of granulosa cells and then called as the primary follicle. A large number of these follicles degenerate during the phase from birth to puberty. Therefore, at puberty only 60,000 - 80,000 primary follicles are left in each ovary.

So, the correct answer is 'At birth'