Supervisors info:
Δρακάκης Πέτρος, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Ντόμαλη Αικατερίνη, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Μαυρογιάννη Δέσποινα, Εργαστηριακό Διδακτικό Προσωπικό, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
As is well known, when we refer to a woman's reproductive ability, the attention, at the cellular level, turns to the egg. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency to investigate other cell types found in the follicle, such as granulosa cells. In particular, the granular cells appear to reflect the characteristics of the egg, thus constituting a non-invasive source for exploring its quality. Undoubtedly, studies on the gene expression profile in granular cells will advance the understanding of the mechanism of egg maturation and reveal reliable prognostic indicators of egg quality.
Since its discovery, leptin has been shown to have significant roles in numerous physiological functions, including reproduction. The widespread presence of leptin receptors throughout the body supports its pleiotropic role. Studies in the literature focus on the detection of serum leptin levels in women undergoing IVF, while those focusing on the detection of leptin levels in the follicular fluid have conflicting results. Therefore, in this study, it was considered appropriate to detect the levels of leptin in granular cells to be correlated on the one hand with the body mass index (BMI) and on the other hand with the outcome of IVF, taking into account characteristics such as age, the number and quality of eggs.
The study was designed in such a way that there are internal controls. The results show that age, number of follicles and eggs and quality of fertilized eggs differ statistically significantly between fertile and infertile women. There is also a difference in the expression of the leptin gene in granular cells, between fertile and infertile women, without this being statistically significant. At the same time, leptin expression seems to be related to women's BMI, while the correlation of leptin expression with age, number of eggs and the effect of β-HCG is smaller. However due to the small sample there is reduced statistical power, making further investigation necessary.
