FIGURE 3.

Proposed technologies for future clinical testing and development based on human OSCs. 1: Once isolated, human OSCs could be cryopreserved and stored for future use. This could be done directly following isolation (fresh cells) or after expansion in vitro to establish a much larger cell pool. 2a: Through the AUGMENT procedure, mitochondria from a woman's OSCs could be isolated and injected into that same woman's oocytes at the time of ICSI to restore bioenergetic potential and enhance IVF success. 2b: As an alternative strategy to overcome mitochondrial or ATP deficits in eggs, human OSCs could serve as a unique screening model for identification of novel bioenergetic activators for female germline cells, which could then be tested for improvements in egg quality or embryo competency. 3: Because of their ex-vivo proliferative potential, human OSCs could serve as an essentially unlimited source of oocytes for generation of mature eggs using step-wise in-vitro organ and follicle culture systems. 4: Human OSCs, following storage without or with ex-vivo expansion, could be autologously returned to the ovaries as a means to increase the size of the ovarian reserve in vivo. 5: High-throughput screening of human OSCs ex vivo for factors, both man-made and natural, that enhance the oocyte-forming activity of these cells could lead to identification of new therapeutics designed to target these cells in vivo as an alternative means to increase the size of the ovarian reserve.