Correlations of follicular fluid oxidative stress biomarkers and enzyme activities with embryo morphology parameters during in vitro fertilization

Objective: To measure antioxidant enzyme activities and lipid peroxidation levels within follicular fluid (FF) and evaluate correlations with early embryo quality. Design: Individual FF samples were obtained prospectively on the day of oocyte collection and assessed for lipid peroxidation as specific positional isomers of hydroperoxy and hydroxy fatty acids by high-performance liquid chromatography and antioxidant enzyme activities by automated kinetic enzyme assays. Spearman rank correlation coefficients, adjusted for age and day of transfer, were used to assess associations between antioxidant enzymes and lipid peroxidation products and embryo quality using a 1 follicle-1 oocyte/embryo approach. Post hoc power analysis was conducted to help interpret null results. Setting: A university clinic. Patient(s): Thirty-nine women undergoing IVF. Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): Embryo cell number and embryo fragmentation score (EFS) at transfer. Result(s): No significant correlations between lipid peroxidation derivatives or antioxidant enzyme activities and embryo quality were obtained. Post hoc power analysis indicated possible undetected associations between EFS and 13-hydroxy octadecatrienoic acid and 13-hydroperoxy octadecadieneoic acid. Conclusion(s): Our preliminary dataset suggests that most lipid peroxidation products and antioxidant enzyme activities within FF are not associated with the quality of embryos, using EFS and embryo cell number as end points. However, further consideration of associations between EFS and 13-hydroxy octadecatrienoic acid and 13-hydroperoxy octadecadieneoic acid is warranted.