EJMS

Abstract

Background and objective: Follicular Fluid contains many markers that can affect the ICSI outcome, oocyte and embryo quality. Measuring of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in the follicular fluid could provide a good marker for evaluating the quality of oocytes, and since the procedure of measuring TAC not time consuming it appears to be a good tool. It is not known whether TAC is different between the GnRh agonist and antagonist protocol, which is the aim of the current study. Methods: This study were performed on 40 infertile couples undergone ICSI, divided into 2 groups 20 patients in every one. managed by agonist and antagonist protocols. During pick up, pooled follicular fluid was collected for TAC assay using ELISA TAC fast track kit. Results: As regard to TAC, in agonist group it ranged between 45.3-369.5 with mean ± S.D. 236.18 ± 90.637 while in antagonist group it ranged between 84-381.1 with mean ± S.D. 227.22 ± 89.493. There was no statistically significant differences between the two groups while P=0.755 (P significant level at P less than 0.05) , also , As regard to TAC in all pregnant cases in both groups it ranged between 45.3-348.9 with mean ± S.D. 200.356 ± 94.007 while in non-pregnant cases in both groups it ranged between 84-381.1 with mean ± S.D. 252.596 ± 80.839. There was no statistically significant differences as regard TAC between the pregnant and non pregnant cases while P=0.280. Also, there was no statistically significant difference in Oocyte fertilization and cleavage rates (P=0.710), and Pregnancy and multiple pregnancy rates (P=0.356) between the agonist and antagonist groups. Conclusion: There is no statistically significant difference regarding total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in follicular fluid in patients undergone ICSI using long agonist protocol and antagonist protocol P=0.755 . Further studies are required in the future with more cases to confirm the relation of GnRH analogues with antioxidant and its implication in follicular growth and ICSI outcome.