Effect of peritoneal endometriosis on ovarian reserve and ovulation in a rat model

BENGOCHEA TATIANA; RICCI ANALÍA; OLIVARES CARLA; ABRAMOVICH DALHIA; PARBORELL FERNANDA; MERESMAN GABRIELA; BARAÑAO ROSA INÉS; BILOTAS MARIELA

Congreso; 2do congreso de la Sociedad de Endometriosis y Desórdenes Uterinos; 2016

Introduction: One of the main symptoms of endometriosis is infertility. Lately numerous studieshave shown a decrease in ovarian reserve (OR) associated with the presence of ovarianendometriomas. Other works state that the reduction in OR is due to the surgery performed toremove the endometriomas. However little is known about the effect of peritoneal endometriosison OR. Antimüllerian hormone (AMH) levels correlate with ovarian primordial follicle number andare used as OR biomarker. Kit ligand (KL) is involved in primordial, primary and preovulatoryfollicle development. Growth differentiation factor‐9 (GDF‐9) plays a role in oocyte developmentand maturation and in follicle growth since primary stage. The objective of this study is to evaluatethe effect of peritoneal endometriosis on follicles, ovulated oocytes and ovarian levels of AMH, KLand GDF‐9 in a rat model.Materials/Patients and methods: Two‐month‐old female Sprague Dawley rats were used.Endometriosis was surgically induced by autotransplantation of three uterine horn pieces to thebowel mensentery. A sham surgery was performed in the control group. One month after surgeryanimals were sacrificed either at proestrus or at estrous. Follicles at all stages were counted inhematoxylin‐eosin stained ovary sections at proestrus. AMH, KL and GDF‐9 protein levels wereassessed by western blot in lysates from whole ovary at proestrus. Oocytes were isolated from theampulla and counted at estrous. Lesions were excised in order to histologically confirmendometriosis.Results: Females with endometriosis showed a reduced number of primordial, primary andpreantral follicles (p