1Senior Lecturer, Unit of Biochemistry, AIMST University, Semeling, Kedah, Malaysia
2Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, St. George University School of Medicine, Grenada, West Indies
3Senior Associate Professor, Unit of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, AIMST University, Semeling, Kedah, Malaysia
*Corresponding author email id: veebhas@hotmail.com
Online published on 16 December, 2014.
Oxidative stress affects various functions in female reproduction and its role in female infertility is proposed. Hence, it was of interest to analyse serum and follicular fluid (FF) Malondialdehyde (MDA) among women undergoing Invitro Fertilization (IVF) and determine its association with IVF outcome determinants (age, subfertility duration, type of stimulation protocol used, fertilisation potential of oocytes, embryo quality and post-IVF pregnancy).
FF collected by transvaginal ultrasound guided oocyte rupture and intra-venous (IV) blood from 28 women (20–40 years) undergoing Invitro fertilization (IVF)/Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), were analysed for MDA following Thiobarbituric acid reacting substances(TBARS) method and its association with IVF outcome parameters were compared.
Mean MDA was significantly higher in serum than FF among all women tested (2.98 ± 0.14 vs. 2.23 ± 0.11; P=0.0001), IVF group (2.88 ± 0.16 vs.2.25 ± 0.16; P=0.008) and ICSI group (3.10 ± 0.23 vs.2.20 ± 0.15; P=0.005). No significant association was seen between MDA and other parameters except embryo quality (r=0.378, P=0.047).
Low MDA in FF compared to serum evidences that FF has an effective antioxidant mechanism to overcome oxidative stress. The importance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in female reproduction is evidenced by positive correlation between MDA and embryo quality.
Malondialdehyde, Oxidative stress, Serum, Follicular fluid, Infertility, In vitro fertilization, Fluorometry
