OVARIAN RESERVE
Ovarian reserve is a term that is used to determine the capacity of the ovary to provides eggs that are capable of fertilization resulting in a healthy and successful pregnancy. The determination of the ovarian reserve is important in the treatment of infertility.

The ovary is generally thought of as an egg bank from which the woman draws during her reproductive life. While each month one egg is released by ovulation about one thousand additional eggs are lost by atresia. Few if any oocytes are replenished during the reproductive years. Thus with advanced maternal age the number of eggs that can be successfully recruited for a possible pregnancy declines. Attempts have been made to assess the number of potential useful oocytes in a noninvasive way.

BLOOD TEST
The most commonly used test to assess this ovarian reserve is the day 2-6 FSH test. This blood test determines the level of FSH between day 2-6. Athis time the estrogen level is expected to be low, a critical feature, as FSH levels are subject to a negative feedback.  Generally FSH levels are expected to be below 10 miu/ml in women with reproductive potential (levels of 10-15 miu/ml are considered borderline). However there is little warning about when ovarian reserve is likely to be exahusted and by the tim eFSH levels climb rapidly to above 40miu/ml it is usually too late for either natural attempts to become pregnant or for infertility treatment.

Inhibin-B
Inhibin-B is mainly produced by the granulosa cells in growing follicles and offers a more immediate assessment of ovarian reserve activity than other serum tests. A fall in day 3 inhibin-B levels may predict poor ovarian reserve before the expected rise in day 3 FSH (Danforth et al., 1998; Seifer et al., 1999; Fried et al., 2003).

Anti-Müllerian hormone
Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is produced by the granulosa cells of the recruited follicles until they become sensitive to FSH (te Velde and Pearson, 2002). AMH has been identified as a regulator of the recruitment, preventing the depletion of all primordial follicle pool at once (Themmen, 2005). It has been found to decline with advancing female age (de Vet et al., 2002) and been suggested as a predictor of ovarian response (van Rooij et al., 2002; Seifer et al., 2002; Fanchin et al., 2003).