Neurotrophins (BDNF and NGF) in follicular fluid of women with different infertility diagnoses

Abstract

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) are intra-ovarian signalling peptides that are important in follicle development and oocyte maturation. In the ovary, neurotrophin expression is regulated by gonadotrophins. Therefore, this study postulates that aetiology of infertility will affect follicular-fluid BDNF and NGF concentrations. Follicular fluid from the first follicle aspirated from 190 infertile women attending a university-affiliated fertility programme (McMaster University and ONE Fertility, Burlington, Ontario) was collected between February 2004 and November 2010. The relationship between follicular-fluid BDNF and NGF concentration and age, day-3 FSH and peak serum oestradiol concentrations and antral follicle count was determined. Participants were aged between 24 and 44 years (mean±SEM, 35.2±0.3years) of age. The median concentrations of BDNF and NGF in the follicular fluid was 19.4pg/ml and 344.6ng/ml, respectively. The concentrations of BDNF and NGF were significantly related (P=0.028) but only the BDNF concentration was significantly higher (P<0.05) in women with unexplained infertility compared with other causes of infertility. It is concluded that, apart from unexplained infertility, the underlying cause of infertility did not affect ovarian output of BDNF and NGF in response to ovulation induction.

The roles of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor during the final stage of folliculogenesis: a focus on oocyte maturation

“…Interestingly, the levels of NGF in follicular fluid derived from women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) were lower compared with the control group, but BDNF concentrations did not vary (Buyuk & Seifer 2008), suggesting an effect potentially attributable to the different aetiologies of infertility. This notion is supported by a recent study demonstrating that follicular fluid BDNF concentrations were only higher in women diagnosed with unexplained infertility following ovulation induction, while no relationship could be established between levels of BDNF or NGF in women with a history of either endometriosis or PCOS compared to controls (Sadeu et al 2012). It should be noted that this particular study included only a small number of participants, the stage of disease was not factored into the measurements and there may be differences in ovulation induction procedures that vary between facilities that could explain the differences reported across different studies.…”

Morpho‐Functional Features of the Gonads ofDanio rerio: the Role of Brain‐Derived Neurotrophic Factor

“…Also in mammalian species, several studies documented that BDNF is a physiological regulator of normal follicle maturation (Pan and Auersperg, 1998;Seifer et al, 2002) and may function in both early and later stages of folliculogenesis (Linher-Melville and Li, 2013), although with specific differences in the localization within the follicle. Indeed, in the ovary of humans, BDNF was detected in the follicular fluid (Seifer et al, 2002;Seifer et al, 2006;Sadeu et al, 2012), in the follicular cells, such as granulosa cells (Zhao et al, 2011) and cumulus cells, and in the oocyte (Anderson et al, 2002). Furthermore, BDNF was reported in the granulosa cells of primordial and primary follicles of mouse (Paredes et al, 2004), and in the cumulus and granulosa cells of mature follicles in mouse (Kawamura et al, 2005), cow (Martins da Silva et al, 2005), and pig (Lee et al, 2007).…”

Chronic Unpredictable Stress Decreases Expression of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in Mouse Ovaries: Relationship to Oocytes Developmental Potential

“…Many reports had demonstrated that BNDF is a paracrine/autocrine regulator that is required for follicular growth and oocyte development in the mammalian ovary [4]–[7], [28], [29]. Recently it has been proved that BDNF is involved in not only stress-related mood disorder [13], but also some human reproductive diseases, such as polycystic ovary syndrome [30] and infertility [31]. Our data showed for the first time that BDNF in ovary may be involved in the impaired oocytes developments induced by chronic stress.…”