Department of Biology, Parand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Parand, Iran.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jan 25;13(1):1440. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-28686-x.
MicroRNAs are small molecules that play a crucial role in regulating a woman's reproductive system. The present study evaluates the expression of miR-21 in the serum, follicular fluid (FF), and cumulus cells (CCs) and their association with oocyte maturity and embryo quality in women undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Women subjects were divided into the case (54 Patients with female factor infertility) and control groups (33 patients with male factor infertility). The level of miR-21 was measured using Real-Time PCR. The level of miR-21 was significantly lower in the CCs, FF, and serum in the case compared to the control group (p < 0.05). MiR-21 abundance was higher in FF and CCs samples than in serum. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in CCs to FF in the case group (p < 0.05). A significant decrease in oocyte count, MII oocytes, and percentage of mature oocytes were observed in the case group (p < 0.05). The expression of miR-21 in FF and CCs was positively related to oocyte maturation, but no correlation with embryo development was observed. This study found that miR-21 is expressed less in women with female factor infertility, and human oocytes' development is crucially affected by the expression of miR-21. Therefore, miR-21 could provide new helpful biomarkers of oocyte maturity.
微小 RNA 是在调节女性生殖系统中起关键作用的小分子。本研究评估了 miR-21 在血清、卵泡液 (FF) 和卵丘细胞 (CC) 中的表达及其与接受胞浆内精子注射的女性卵母细胞成熟和胚胎质量的关系。将女性受试者分为病例组（54 例女性因素不孕患者）和对照组（33 例男性因素不孕患者）。使用实时 PCR 测量 miR-21 的水平。与对照组相比，病例组的 CCs、FF 和血清中 miR-21 的水平显着降低（p < 0.05）。miR-21 在 FF 和 CCs 样本中的丰度高于血清。此外，病例组中 CCs 到 FF 的比例显着增加（p < 0.05）。病例组的卵母细胞计数、MII 卵母细胞和成熟卵母细胞的百分比显着下降（p < 0.05）。FF 和 CCs 中 miR-21 的表达与卵母细胞成熟呈正相关，但与胚胎发育无相关性。本研究发现，miR-21 在女性因素不孕患者中的表达较低，人类卵母细胞的发育受到 miR-21 表达的严重影响。因此，miR-21 可为卵母细胞成熟提供新的有帮助的生物标志物。
