Correlations between follicular fluid steroid analysis and maturity and cytogenetic analysis of human oocytes that remained unfertilized after in vitro fertilization

Steroid Profiles in Ovarian Follicular Fluid from Regularly Menstruating Women and Women after Ovarian Stimulation

“…To our knowledge, there have been no published LC-MS/MS-based measurements of steroids in ovarian FF samples from RM women and from women after ovarian stimulation for IVF. In our study, LC-MS/MS methods produced lower concentrations for all androgens, especially for Te, than those obtained with other techniques (Table 4) (12)(13)(14)(15). E2, A4, and 17OHP concentrations in FF samples from RM women were comparable to previously published values obtained with IAs (29 -31 ).…”

“…The concentrations of steroids in FF samples from women after ovarian stimulation measured in this study with LC-MS/MS methods were compared (Table 4) with values reported in 3 previous studies that used IA methods (13)(14)(15) and 1 study that used liquid chromatography followed by spectrophotometric detection (12 ). Lower concentrations for DHEA, A4, E2, and F and considerably lower Te concentrations were observed in the present study than were obtained with these other techniques ( Table 4).…”

“…This situation is due in part to the very limited volume of FF that can be obtained from follicles of RM women and the absence of methods for simultaneous quantitative analysis of multiple analytes in small samples. Previous studies have measured steroids in FF with immunoassays (IAs) (12)(13)(14)(15), which are known to have a high potential for cross-reactivity (16 -18 ), or with GC-MS methods, which are more specific but require larger sample aliquots (19 -21 ). Recent advances in biological mass spectrometry (MS) have overcome the problems associated with poor specificity in earlier methods and have enabled simultaneous quantification of multiple steroids.…”

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry applications in endocrinology

“…Using LC-MS/MS methods (Kushnir et al, , 2006a(Kushnir et al, ,b, 2008, concentrations of endogenous steroids and the patterns of distribution of the steroids in FF were determined in healthy women and in women after ovarian stimulation for IVF treatment (Kushnir et al, 2009). The difference of this study from earlier published studies (Dehennin, 1990;De Sutter et al, 1991;Andersen, 1993;Smitz et al, 2007) was in the use of more sensitive and specific methods, which allowed simultaneous measurement of a large number of bioactive steroids and the intermediates of their biosynthesis in samples from individual follicles. The majority of earlier studies of ovarian steroidogenesis used IAs for determining concentrations, and each study focused on the effect of one or few of the steroids on the follicular development.…”

Exploratory study of the association of steroid profiles in stimulated ovarian follicular fluid with outcomes of IVF treatment

“…A number of studies have focused on analyzing steroids in FF samples of women undergoing ovarian stimulation for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, and assessing the relationship between the concentrations and the follicular development [5,10,11,26,2,37,14]. Local steroid production in ovarian follicles is controlled by enzymes expressed in the ovaries, which regulate conversion between the steroids and availability of precursors [22,34] (Fig.…”