Astaxanthin ameliorates inflammation, oxidative stress, and reproductive outcomes in endometriosis patients undergoing assisted reproduction: A randomized, triple-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial

PurposeIn a randomized, triple-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial (RCT) including 50 infertile women with endometriosis candidate for assisted reproductive techniques (ART), we studied the effect of Astaxanthin (AST) on pro-inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress (OS) markers, and early pregnancy outcomes.MethodsBefore and after 12 weeks of AST treatment (6 mg per day), blood serum and follicular fluid (FF) samples were collected from 50 infertile women with endometriosis stage III/IV undergoing ART. Pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α) and OS markers (malondialdehyde [MDA], superoxide dismutase [SOD], catalase [CAT], and total antioxidant capacity [TAC]) were measured in the serum and FF. ART outcomes were also compared between the groups.ResultsIncreased serum levels of TAC (398.661 ± 57.686 vs. 364.746 ± 51.569; P = 0.004) and SOD (13.458 ± 7.276 vs. 9.040 ± 5.155; P = 0.010) were observed after AST therapy in the treatment group. Furthermore, serum MDA (14.619 ± 2.505 vs. 15.939 ± 1.512; P = 0.031) decreased significantly following antioxidant treatment. In addition, significantly lower serum levels of IL-1β (4.515 ± 0.907 vs. 6.8760 ± 0.8478; P = 0.000), IL-6 (5.516 ± 0.646 vs. 5.0543 ± 0.709; P = 0.024) and TNF-α (2.520 ± 0.525 vs. 2.968 ± 0.548; P = 0.038) were observed after AST treatment. In addition, AST supplementation led to an improved number of oocytes retrieved (14.60 ± 7.79 vs. 9.84 ± 6.44; P = 0.043), number of mature (MII) oocytes (10.48 ± 6.665 vs. 6.72 ± 4.3; P = 0.041), and high-quality embryos (4.52 ± 2.41 vs. 2.72 ± 2.40; P = 0.024).ConclusionAST pretreatment can modulate inflammation and OS in endometriosis-induced infertile patients. ART outcomes also improved after 12 weeks of AST therapy. Our results suggest that AST can be a potential therapeutic target for infertile patients with endometriosis undergoing ART

GnRH agonist trigger versus hCG trigger in GnRH antagonist in IVF/ICSI cycles: A review article

Routinely, a bolus of 5.000-10.000 IU human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is used for the final follicular maturation and ovulation as a standard method. HCG has the same effect of luteinizing hormone (LH) with long half-life. It has the long lutheotrophic effect which increases the risk of ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome (OHSS). Recently, gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH-a) trigger has been used for the induction of final follicular maturation and ovulation with the aim of reducing the OHSS risk. Several studies have shown that the releases of endogenous follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and LH after administration of GnRH agonist in in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles are able to precede the final follicular maturation leading to removal of fertile oocyte with normal development of the embryo and ultimately pregnancy. But based on the results of some studies, using GnRH-a trigger leads to defect luteal-phase resulting to reduce the implantation and clinical pregnancy rates and also increase abortion in fresh embryo transfer cycles compared to routine IVF cycle with hCG triggering . Also, in recent years, studies have continued to modify the luteal phase support, so that the fresh embryo transfer is possible too. In this review, we examined the benefits, problems, and also ways to reform GnRH agonist triggering complications