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Human Reproduction, Vol. 17, No. 1, 111-117, January 2002
© 2002 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

Structure of the corpus luteum in the ovulatory polycystic ovary

S.F. Lunn1, H.M. Fraser1 and H.D. Mason2,

1 Medical Research Council, Human Reproductive Sciences Unit, Centre for Reproductive Biology, 37 Chalmers Street, Edinburgh EH3 9ET and 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Department of Physiology, St George's Hospital Medical School, Tooting, London SW17, UK

BACKGROUND: Women with polycystic ovaries (PCO) have a wide spectrum of presentation from anovulation and amenorrhoea to apparently regular, ovulatory menstrual cycles. We have recently reported a subtle defect in steroidogenic function in the luteal phase in the latter and an increase in the number of degenerating corpora lutea (CL) were observed in ovulatory PCO (ovPCO) during dissection. The possibility was therefore investigated of differences in structure or degeneration in CL formed during ovulatory cycles in women with PCO. METHODS: This study compared the histology of the CL in ovPCO with that in the normal ovary. Corpora lutea were collected from nine normal ovaries (days 1–27 of the cycle) and from 13 women with ovPCO (days 5–38). RESULTS: Variations in the degree of regression, both in relation to onset of menses and between different areas within individual CL, were recorded in both groups. During development and regression no obvious differences were observed between either group apart from an apparent increase in luteal haemorrhage, which was more common and more extensive in CL from PCO. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that possible luteal phase abnormalities of steroid secretion in women with ovulatory PCO are not associated with obvious morphological defects in the CL, however it is possible that the persistence of luteal structures seen in PCO was a consequence of increased luteal haemorrhage.

Key words: corpus luteum structure/ovulatory polycystic ovaries

2 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hmason{at}sghms.ac.uk


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