Lin Li-Te, Cheng Jiin-Tsuey, Wang Peng-Hui, Li Chia-Jung, Tsui Kuan-Hao
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Department of Biological Science, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
J Obstet Gynaecol Res. 2017 Dec;43(12):1855-1862. doi: 10.1111/jog.13456. Epub 2017 Sep 11.
Ovarian aging, which leads to diminished ovarian reserve and decreased oocyte quality, is highly associated with poor reproductive outcomes. It has been suggested that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) might be able to temporarily slow down the aging process. This study attempted to investigate the clinical benefits of DHEA in older patients and the anti-senescence effect of DHEA on cumulus cells (CC) and human ovarian granulosa cells (HO23 cell line).
This prospective study enrolled 88 patients who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF), including 30 younger patients (aged ≤ 37 years) and 58 older patients (aged > 37 years). Older patients were assigned to receive DHEA treatment or not prior to the IVF cycle. CC were obtained from all patients after oocyte retrieval and the HO23 granulosa cell line was used for in vitro studies. Senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) was used as a biomarker of senescence.
In older patients, following DHEA supplementation, a greater number of transferred embryos and a higher fertilization rate were observed compared with those in patients without DHEA supplementation. However, the clinical pregnancy rate was not significantly increased following DHEA supplementation. Additionally, treatment with DHEA resulted in significantly reduced SA-β-gal staining in both CC and HO23 cells.
DHEA supplementation ameliorated IVF outcomes but without a consequence on pregnancy rate in older patients and decreased SA-β-gal activity in CC and HO23 cells, suggesting that DHEA might be used as a possible intervention to slow down ovarian aging.
卵巢衰老会导致卵巢储备功能下降和卵母细胞质量降低，与不良生殖结局密切相关。有研究表明，脱氢表雄酮（DHEA）可能能够暂时减缓衰老过程。本研究旨在探讨DHEA对老年患者的临床益处以及DHEA对卵丘细胞（CC）和人卵巢颗粒细胞（HO23细胞系）的抗衰老作用。
这项前瞻性研究纳入了88例行体外受精（IVF）的患者，其中包括30名年轻患者（年龄≤37岁）和58名老年患者（年龄>37岁）。老年患者在IVF周期前被分配接受或不接受DHEA治疗。在取卵后从所有患者中获取CC，并使用HO23颗粒细胞系进行体外研究。衰老相关β-半乳糖苷酶（SA-β-gal）用作衰老的生物标志物。
在老年患者中，补充DHEA后，与未补充DHEA的患者相比，观察到移植胚胎数量更多，受精率更高。然而，补充DHEA后临床妊娠率没有显著提高。此外，DHEA治疗导致CC和HO23细胞中SA-β-gal染色显著减少。
补充DHEA改善了老年患者的IVF结局，但对妊娠率没有影响，并降低了CC和HO23细胞中SA-β-gal的活性，表明DHEA可能作为一种可能的干预措施来减缓卵巢衰老。
