In vitro fertilizationAssociations between free fatty acids, cumulus oocyte complex morphology and ovarian function during in vitro fertilization
Section snippets
Patient Characteristics and Samples
Washington University’s Institutional Review Board approved all study protocols. Women were enrolled the morning of oocyte retrieval after undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) with injected gonadotropins as previously described (11). Inclusion criteria were first IVF cycle and age <38 years. Women were excluded if they had not undergone our standard COH protocol, if they had known stage III/IV endometriosis, or if sperm used in their procedures was obtained from testicular
Patient Characteristics
A total of 102 women were enrolled. Average patient age was 32.7 ± 3.5 years. Average BMI was 25.38 ± 5.1 kg/m2. Forty-one subjects were overweight, 23 were parous, and six used tobacco. Infertility diagnoses included PCOS (n = 6), other ovulation disorder (n = 13), fallopian tube abnormalities (n = 20), endometriosis (n = 8), and male factor infertility (n = 35). Several participants had multiple diagnoses, and 22 had unexplained infertility.
FFAs in Serum and Ovarian Follicular Fluid
Follicular fluid was available for 102 patients and
Discussion
Our findings demonstrate that predominant FFAs in the ovarian follicle include oleic, palmitic, stearic, and linoleic acids, the latter being an essential FFA obtained from the diet whereas the others are synthesized by the body. The predominant FFAs in the ovarian follicle were consistent with those found in serum; however, concentrations of FFAs in follicular fluid had only a weak correlation with FFAs in serum. These results suggest that cells of the ovarian follicle metabolize specific FFAs
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. David Alpers for his review of this manuscript, participating patients, Jennifer Shew and Freida Custudio for technical assistance with FFA measurement, the Women’s Health Specimen Consortium at Washington University for assistance with patient enrollment, and the nursing and laboratory staff at Washington University’s Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility for their assistance in specimen processing.
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E.S.J. has nothing to disclose. G.A.M. has nothing to disclose. R.R.O. has nothing to disclose. B.W.P. has nothing to disclose. S.E.L. has nothing to disclose. V.S.R. has nothing to disclose. K.H.M. has nothing to disclose.
Supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants K12HD063086-01, UL1RR024992, P30DK056341, and L50HD062021-01. The contents of this work are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.