title: High Serum FSH is Associated with Brown Oocyte Formation and a Lower Pregnacy Rate in Human IVF Parctice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether brown zona pellucida (ZP) of oocytes affects the outcome of fertilization, embryo quality and pregnancy rate in in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET).
  
  
  METHODS
  Based on the ZP color of their oocytes, a total number of 703 patients dated from 2012 to 2014 were divided into a normal egg group (group A) and a brown oocyte group (group B), with 629 and 74 cases, respectively. Clinical characteristics, gonadotropin (Gn) days, Gn dosage, serum hormone levels on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) injection, ZP thickness (ZPT) of the eggs, fertilization rate, rescue intracytoplasmic sperm injection (rICSI) rate, good-quality embryo rate and pregnancy rate were compared between the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant differences were found in the duration and the causes of infertility, and their basal level of endocrine hormone before IVF-ET between normal egg group and brown egg group. The level of serum hormone including estradiol, progesterone and luteinizing hormone on the day of HCG injection were again similar. Moreover, there were no differences in number of mature oocytes, oocyte fertilization rates and rICSI rates after IVF between the two groups. However, we observed that the ZPT of brown oocytes (group B) was higher than that of normal oocytes (group A). Moreover, the Gn dosage and FSH levels on the day of HCG injection were significantly higher in group B than in group A and the good-quality embryo rate and pregnancy rate in group B were lower than those in group A.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with normal eggs, oocytes with a brown ZP were found to have a higher ZPT, lower embryo quality and lower pregnancy rate, which might be due to a high Gn dosage injection and high serum FSH levels during IVT-ET cycles.
authors.affiliation: Reproductive Medicine Center, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China.
authors.forename: Hongyi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Qingbing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Honglu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Diao
authors.forename: Changjun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000379:methods*; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D006062:Gonadotropins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D009865:Oocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D018873:Pregnancy Rate; D011374:Progesterone / Q000097:blood; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult; D015044:Zona Pellucida / Q000502:physiology; D015053:Zygote / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D006063:Chorionic Gonadotropin; D006062:Gonadotropins; D011374:Progesterone; D004958:Estradiol; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone