Yes, THC (the active compound in marijuana) can affect female eggs. It interferes with egg maturation, disrupts the hormonal signals needed for ovulation, and may increase the risk of chromosomal abnormalities in eggs. The effects appear to be dose-dependent, meaning heavier use carries greater risk.
How THC Reaches Your Eggs
Your ovaries have cannabinoid receptors, the same docking sites that THC binds to when it enters your body. These receptors (called CB1 and CB2) are found throughout the ovarian cortex, the inner tissue of the ovary, and inside individual follicles, which are the tiny fluid-filled sacs where eggs develop. This means THC doesn’t just circulate in your bloodstream; it has a direct pathway to interact with the tissue responsible for producing and maturing your eggs.
Normally, your body produces its own cannabinoid-like molecules that use these receptors to help regulate reproductive processes. When THC floods these same receptors, it can override those natural signals and disrupt several stages of egg development.
Effects on Egg Maturation
Research using cow eggs treated with THC concentrations equivalent to recreational and therapeutic doses found that higher THC levels caused a significant decrease and delay in the eggs’ ability to reach key maturation checkpoints. In other words, eggs exposed to more THC were slower to develop and less likely to fully mature.
A 2025 study published in Nature Communications took this further using donated human eggs. Researchers found that THC exposure altered the expression of genes involved in chromosome segregation, which is the process by which an egg divides its genetic material in half before fertilization. THC disrupted the tiny internal scaffolding (called the spindle) that pulls chromosomes apart during this division, leading to eggs with the wrong number of chromosomes. Eggs with too many or too few chromosomes are a leading cause of failed implantation, miscarriage, and certain genetic conditions like Down syndrome.
In a companion analysis, the same research team found that patients with detectable THC in their follicular fluid (the liquid surrounding developing eggs) had significantly lower rates of chromosomally normal embryos compared to matched controls who tested negative for THC.
Hormonal Disruption and Ovulation
THC doesn’t only act on the eggs themselves. It also suppresses the hormonal chain reaction your body needs to release an egg each month. THC interferes with the release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone from the hypothalamus, which is the brain region that kicks off your menstrual cycle’s hormonal cascade. When that signal is dampened, the pituitary gland produces less follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), two hormones essential for egg development and ovulation.
The consequences cascade from there. Lower FSH means follicles in the ovary don’t develop as robustly and eggs inside them may not mature properly. Lower LH means the mid-cycle surge that triggers ovulation can be blunted or blocked entirely. Animal studies where THC was administered daily throughout the follicular phase (the first half of the cycle) showed disrupted follicle development, reduced estrogen and progesterone production, a blocked LH surge, and complete prevention of ovulation.
In human studies, smoking as little as one gram of marijuana in a single session was enough to suppress LH levels during the luteal phase (the second half of the cycle). Over time, repeated suppression of these hormones can lead to anovulatory cycles, where your body goes through a period but never actually releases an egg.
Direct Effects on Hormone Production in the Ovary
Beyond the brain-level hormonal disruption, THC also acts directly on ovarian cells. Studies using cultured granulosa cells (the support cells that surround each egg inside a follicle) found that THC blocked the ability of FSH to stimulate estrogen and progesterone production. It also reduced the number of LH receptors on these cells, making them less responsive to the ovulation trigger even when LH is present.
The mechanism involves THC interfering with steroid hormone production at a cellular level. Specifically, it reduced the conversion of precursor molecules into progesterone, a hormone critical for preparing the uterine lining for implantation and sustaining early pregnancy. This means even if ovulation does occur, the hormonal environment supporting the egg and early embryo may be compromised.
Does It Matter How Much You Use?
The research consistently points to a dose-dependent relationship. When cow eggs were treated at low, mid, and high THC concentrations corresponding to therapeutic and recreational doses, only the higher concentrations caused significant delays in maturation. This suggests occasional, low-level exposure carries less measurable risk than regular or heavy use, though no study has identified a clear “safe” threshold.
Chronic daily use appears to carry the most risk, particularly for ovulation. The animal studies showing blocked ovulation involved daily THC administration over multiple days. A single acute exposure was enough to temporarily suppress LH in humans, but the long-term fertility impact of occasional use remains less clear.
What IVF Data Shows
IVF outcomes offer a window into egg quality because the process involves retrieving, fertilizing, and grading eggs and embryos under controlled conditions. The picture here is mixed. One cohort study found that cannabis users and non-users had similar implantation rates (about 41% for both groups), and the ongoing pregnancy rate actually trended slightly higher for cannabis users (35.2% vs. 29.1%), though the difference was not statistically significant.
However, the Nature Communications study found that women with THC in their follicular fluid had significantly lower embryo euploidy rates, meaning fewer of their embryos had the correct number of chromosomes. This is a more granular measure of egg quality than pregnancy rates alone, since chromosomally abnormal embryos can still implant briefly before failing. Fertility specialists have also observed that cannabis users undergoing IVF tend to produce lower-quality eggs overall.
These seemingly contradictory findings likely reflect differences in how much and how recently participants used cannabis, as well as the small sample sizes typical of fertility research. The chromosomal data, because it measures a direct biological effect on the egg itself, is arguably more informative than pregnancy rate comparisons.
Reversibility
The hormonal effects of THC on ovulation appear to be reversible. In animal studies where THC blocked the LH surge and prevented ovulation, administering the missing hormones mid-cycle rescued ovulation. This suggests the eggs themselves weren’t permanently destroyed; the problem was the suppressed hormonal signal. Once THC clears the system, the hypothalamus and pituitary resume normal hormone release patterns.
What’s less clear is whether eggs that were exposed to THC during their maturation window sustain lasting chromosomal or quality changes. Women are born with all the eggs they’ll ever have, but those eggs remain in a dormant state until they’re recruited for development in a given cycle. THC’s effects on chromosome segregation occur during the final stages of egg maturation, not during dormancy. This means stopping cannabis use before conception gives newly maturing eggs a THC-free environment, though the exact timeline needed for full recovery hasn’t been established in human studies.