title: Oocyte quality is decreased in women with minimal or mild endometriosis.
abstract: Endometriosis, a pathological condition in which the endometrium grows outside the uterus, is one of the most common causes of female infertility; it is diagnosed in 25-40% of infertile women. The mechanism by which endometriosis affects the fertility of females remains largely unknown. We examined the ultrastructure of oocytes from patients with minimal or mild endometriosis and control females undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to investigate the physiological significance of oocyte quality for patients with minimal or mild endometriosis. The TEM results revealed that the oocytes from women with minimal or mild endometriosis exhibited abnormal mitochondrial structure and decreased mitochondria mass. Quantitative real time PCR analysis revealed that the mitochondrial DNA copy number was significantly reduced in the oocytes from women with minimal or mild endometriosis compared with those of the control subjects. Our results suggest that decreased oocyte quality because of impaired mitochondrial structure and functions probably an important factor affecting the fertility of endometriosis patients.
authors.affiliation: Center for Reproductive Medicine, Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Center for Reproductive Medicine, Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Center for Reproductive Medicine, Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-min
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Center for Reproductive Medicine, Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Center for Reproductive Medicine, Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, China.
authors.forename: Xian-hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pure and Applied Biology. Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, 60800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Furhan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.affiliation: Center for Reproductive Medicine, Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230001, China.
authors.forename: Yu-sheng
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D004717:Endometrium / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000503:physiopathology*; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D009865:Oocytes / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial