PERITONEAL ENDOMETRIOSIS IMPAIRS OVARIAN RESERVE AND FUNCTION IN A RAT MODEL

OLIVARES, CARLA NOEMÍ; BIZZOZZERO, MARIANNE; BILOTAS, MARIELA ANDREA; BENGOCHEA, TATIANA SOLEDAD; MCCORMACK, BÁRBARA; RICCI, ANALÍA GABRIELA; SCHEFFER, FRIDA; MADANES, DANIELA; BARAÑAO, ROSA INÉS

Massachusetts

Simposio; Frontiers in Reproduction 21st Annual Symposium; 2018

Introduction: Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological disorder associated with pelvic pain and infertility. It is characterized by the presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside the uterine cavity and is estimated to occur in up to 10% of women of reproductive age. Different mechanisms have been proposed to explain endometriosis associated infertility including alterations in follicular and peritoneal environment, in folliculogenesis and in granulosa cells function. Also several studies have shown a decrease in ovarian reserve associated with the presence of ovarian endometriomas although other works state that the reduction in ovarian reserve in endometriosis patients is due to the surgery performed to remove the endometriomas. Nevertheless little it?s known about the effect of peritoneal endometriosis on ovarian reserve. Objective: The objective of the present work was to evaluate the effect of preritoneal endometriosis on ovarian reserve, ovulation and steroidogenesis in the ovary of rats with experimentally induced endometriosis. Design: Endometriosis was surgically induced in Sprague Dawley two-month-old female rats by autotransplantation of uterine horn pieces to the bowel mesothelium. Sham animals were used as controls. Rats were sacrificed 45 days after surgery at different stages of menstrual cycle (proestrus, estrous and diestrus). One ovary was fixed and the other one was used for protein extraction. Lesions were removed in order to histologically confirm endometriosis.Materials and Methods: Early follicles were counted in ovary sections stained with hematoxylin-eosin. AMH KL y GDF-9 expression was assessed in ovaries by wester blot. Estradiol and progesterone serum levels were evaluated by RIA. Aromatase P450, P450scc, 3β-HSD, StAR, LHR and COX-2 expression was determined by western blot in isolated follicles and corpora lutea (CL). PGF-2α was evaluated in serum by ELISA. Ovulated oocytes were counted in the ampulla in the morning of estrous. Results: All animals presented normal cycles. There were no differences in number of cycles evaluated and the time of each cycle stage between sham and endometriosis groups. Females with endometriosis showed a reduced number of primordial, primary and preantral follicles (p