Evaluation expressed hormone receptor genes in cumulus cells associated with embryos development

Introduction：Here we aim to investigate the expression of hormone receptor genes which may influence embryonic development in cumulus cells from infertile women at different ages. The correlation between the quality of the cleavage stage embryos and the expression of these receptor genes were also included.

Materials：In order to evaluate the impacts of hormone receptor gene expression in cumulus cells on the quality of oocytes and embryos, we carried out telomere length analysis of cumulus cell DNA, real-time quantitative PCR to determine the level of LH receptor, FSH receptor, progesterone receptor and testerone receptor gene expression in cumulus cells, and the effect on embryonic development.

Results：Three age groups were included in this study. Relative high FSH receptor expression level in cumulus cells was significantly positively correlated with age, whereas the opposite trend was found in Progesterone and LH receptor expression, i.e., relative expression level of these two receptors in cumulus cells decreased with age. Correlating to oocyte development at day 3, expression level of FSH receptor was higher in cumulus cells surrounding oocytes developed with poor quality, whereas progesterone receptor expression was higher in cumulus cells surrounding oocyte developed with good quality.

CONCLUSIONS：These results may impact clinicians’ decision on the dose of ovulation induction hormones, as well as a reference for infertility women who would like to perform IVF. The hormone expression in cumulus cells can help clinicians evaluate the embryo quality and improve the implantation rate.