The Institute for Drug Research, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9112102, Israel.
Aging and Metabolism Research Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA.
Biomolecules. 2020 Jul 31;10(8):1135. doi: 10.3390/biom10081135.
Follicular fluid (FF) constitutes the microenvironment of the developing oocyte. We recently characterized its lipid composition and found lipid signatures of positive pregnancy outcome after in vitro fertilization (IVF). In the current study, we aimed to test the hypothesis that unexplained female infertility is related to lipid metabolism, given the lipid signature of positive-outcome IVF patients we previously found. Assuming that FF samples from IVF patients with male factor infertility can represent a non-hindered metabolic microenvironment, we compared them to FF taken from women with unexplained infertility. FF from patients undergoing IVF was examined for its lipid composition. We found highly increased triacylglycerol levels, with a lower abundance of monoacylglycerols, phospholipids and sphingolipids in the FF of patients with unexplained infertility. The alterations in the lipid class accumulation were independent of the body mass index (BMI) and were altogether kept across the age groups. Potential lipid biomarkers for pregnancy outcomes showed a highly discriminative abundance in the FF of unexplained infertility patients. Lipid abundance distinguished IVF patients with unrecognized infertility and provided a potential means for the evaluation of female fertility.
卵泡液 (FF) 构成了卵母细胞发育的微环境。我们最近对其脂质组成进行了描述，并发现了体外受精 (IVF) 后妊娠结局阳性的脂质特征。在本研究中，我们假设不明原因的女性不孕与脂质代谢有关，因为我们之前发现了妊娠结局阳性的 IVF 患者的脂质特征。假设来自男性因素不孕的 IVF 患者的 FF 样本可以代表不受阻碍的代谢微环境，我们将其与不明原因不孕的女性的 FF 进行了比较。对接受 IVF 的患者的 FF 进行了脂质组成分析。我们发现，不明原因不孕患者的 FF 中三酰甘油水平显著升高，单酰甘油、磷脂和鞘脂的丰度较低。脂质类别的积累变化与体重指数 (BMI) 无关，并在整个年龄组中保持不变。用于妊娠结局的潜在脂质生物标志物在不明原因不孕患者的 FF 中表现出高度的差异性丰度。脂质丰度可区分不明原因不孕的 IVF 患者，并为评估女性生育能力提供了一种潜在手段。
