Elamipretide Rejuvenates Oocyte Quality and Restores Female Fertility During Reproductive Aging.

Abstract

Aging represents a major contributor to the deterioration of female fertility, with oocyte quality being the central determinant of ovarian aging, a key factor underlying infertility. Although several natural compounds with anti-aging activity have been documented, highly effective strategies to reverse ovarian aging remain elusive. Here, we report that the peptide elamipretide preserves ovarian function and sustains female fertility during maternal aging. We found that elamipretide administration increases litter size in aged mice and ameliorates oocyte quality decline. Metabolomic and transcriptomic profiling revealed substantial restoration of multiple biological processes in aged oocytes after elamipretide injection. Elamipretide improved both nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation of aged oocytes, accompanied by enhanced cytoskeletal dynamics, mitochondrial metabolism, and organelle reorganization. Mechanistically, elamipretide alleviated age-associated oocyte maturation defects through synergistic activation of the vitamin B6-VEGF axis. Furthermore, elamipretide significantly promoted maturation, fertilization, and cleavage of aged human oocytes. Elamipretide treatment also rescued the developmental competence of porcine oocytes under oxidative damage. Collectively, this study identifies a novel peptide therapeutic candidate for aging-related infertility, showing that elamipretide restores the quality of aged oocytes for fertility by coordinately boosting nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation via activation of the VEGF signaling pathway.