Assessment of Correlation between Homocysteine Concentration in Follicular Fluid and Oocyte and Embryo Quality in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Patients Undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technology

Introduction & Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. According to the Rotterdam criteria، this syndrome is identified by presence of two of three criteria: (1) polycystic ovaries (2) oligo/anovulation and/or (3) clinical or biochemical evidence of hyperandrogenism. Low mature oocyte and embryo have been reported in polycystic ovary syndrome patients undergoing assisted repro-duction. An inverse correlation between follicular fluid homocysteine (Hcy) concentration and oocyte and embryo maturity has also been found. This study has been implemented to do more evaluation on the relationship between homocysteine levels in follicular fluid and oo-cyte and embryo quality. 30 PCOS patients as case group and 30 women with male factor infertil-ity as control group were included in the study. The follicular fluid in the cases was collected during ovary punition and Hcy level was measured by ELISA method. The oocytes and em-bryos were classified into several groups. The Hcy levels of follicular fluid of two groups were compared and its relation with oocyte and embryo quality was assessed. Although the homocysteine concentration in follicular fluid of the case group was higher than the control group، the differences were not statistically significant. Moreover، no significant correlation was found between oocyte and embryo quality and homocysteine concentration of follicular fluid of the two groups. In our study، no significant correlation was found between oocyte and embryo quality and homocysteine concentration of follicular fluid of PCOS patients but further stud-ies with larger sample sizes are recommended.