Purpose: The study aimed to determine effects of FSH applications on follicle survival, development and hormone output and antigenicity of rat ovarian tissue autografts placed at subcutaneous or subperitoneal sites.Methods: A total of sixteen female rats were used in the study. The animals were divided into three groups. Ovaries were dissected and then transplanted under the peritoneum in the first group animals (n = 5) or under the skin in the second group animals (n = 6). And the animals in the third group (n = 5) were sham operated. Following operations, intramuscular injection of 8 IU of rhFSH were made daily to the animals in first and second groups from the first day of operation through thirty days. Vaginal irrigation samples were prepared daily from the animals for 30 days. The concentrations of serum estradiol and antiovarian antibodies in the blood were determined using ELISA on the last day Results: Results showed that cyclic variations were noticed in the samples of vaginal irrigation by day 30 in the animals of first and second groups. However, no significant differences were seen between groups. The concentration of blood serum estradiol was higher in the animals of first group. Decrease in numbers of primary follicles were found in the animals of second group and lesser corpus luteum were found in the animals of control group on the histopathological examinations of transplanted ovaries. All rats in the first and second groups were defined as seropositive for antiovarian antibodies. When the OD values were compared between first and second groups, it was identified that the OD values of rats in the first group was higher than it was seen in the second group.Conclusion: The ovarian transplantation without vascular pedicle in rats is characterized by follicular hyperplasia endocrinologically functional. Being seropositive of all rats in first and second groups in terms of antiovarian antibodies is an indicator to these antibodies does not affect the functions of transplanted ovaries. It is believed that the highness of OD values in the group which is transplanted beneath the peritoneum is based on the highness of estradiol concentrations in these animals.

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Objective: Bone morphogenetic protein-15 (BMP-15) and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) are the proteins functioning during ovarian follicular growth. We aimed to investigate the impact of serum and follicular fluid (FF) AMH and BMP-15 levels on outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer (ICSI-ET) cycles.Methods: This prospective, cross-sectional study was carried out with 82 patients attending ICSI-ET cycle. The women divided into two groups according to using either GnRH agonist (group1, N=38) or antagonist (group2, N=44) for pituitary down-regulation. Eight milliliter of serum samples were taken from the patients on the 3rd day of menstrual period (D3) and on the day of oocyte pick-up (OPU); and 8 mL of follicular fluid (FF) sample was collected during OPU. AMH and BMP-15 measurements were carried with ELISA method quantitatively. Results:The mean age and body mass index of population were 30.6 ± 5.2 years and 25.5±4.2 kg/m 2 respectively. The comparison of pregnancy rates between women according to having FF AMH (35% vs 42%) and FF BMP-15 (37.8% vs 40.5%) levels under and above of the mean values revealed no significant difference. Serum AMH levels showed negative correlation with fertilization rate (FR). D3 BMP-15 level showed positive correlation with progesterone level and endometrial thickness on the day of hCG injection.Conclusions: AMH and BMP-15 monitoring during ICSI-ET cycles for predicting cycle outcomes should be evaluated with further studies.

Several technical procedures were described for estimation of epididymal sperm concentration until today. In all of the described techniques, epididymal material was drawn into a micro-pipette before counting procedure. We aimed to proceed this stage without using any pipette because of the difficulty in aspirating very viscous epididymal material into a micro-pipette. For measuring epididymal material we used a 2 microl reservoir which we named as a micro-spoon. It was filled with the epididymal material and layered in a tube with Ringer's solution of 2 ml containing sodium hyaluronate. Then, it was mixed in order to obtain 1/1000 diluted suspension. Sperm cells in this suspension were counted on a Makler chamber under a light microscope. The procedure was easy and time saving, compared to the other techniques.