Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on September 1, 2006
Human Reproduction 2006 21(11):2776-2782; doi:10.1093/humrep/del038
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Amino acid, ammonia and urea concentrations in human pre-ovulatory ovarian follicular fluid
1 Department of Gynecology, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland and 2 Division of Perinatal Medicine, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, USA
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Gynecology, Medical University of Bialystok, Sklodowskiej 24 A, 15276 Bialystok, Poland. E-mail: jozwik{at}obgyn.edu.pl
BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine amino acid (AA), ammonia and urea concentrations in human ovarian follicular fluid and to compare these concentrations with those in the circulation. METHODS: Samples of pre-ovulatory follicular fluid and peripheral venous blood were obtained from 14 IVF patients. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) measurements of 25 AAs were the main outcome measures. RESULTS: There was a significant gradient of most AAs from plasma to follicular fluid, with the exception of glutamate, which demonstrated a three-fold increase in follicular fluid concentration (70.0 ± 3.80 µM) compared with plasma (23.18 ± 2.20 µM; P < 0.001). The plasma-to-follicular fluid concentration difference for glutamine (81.83 ± 9.2 µM) was greatest among all AAs. Among essential AAs, this difference was greatest for the branched-chain AAs, isoleucine, leucine and valine. Ammonia concentrations in follicular fluid and blood were 38.87 ± 2.23 and 22.11 ± 1.96 µM, respectively (P < 0.001). Urea concentration in follicular fluid was 3.37 ± 0.18 mM, a value not significantly different from plasma concentration (3.36 ± 0.22 mM; P = 0.911). CONCLUSIONS: These plasmafollicular fluid differences may reflect both the utilization of AAs and the transport characteristics of the follicular cells. There is accumulation of glutamate and ammonia in pre-ovulatory follicular fluid. The data for urea are consistent with transport by passive diffusion, with no evidence of an active urea cycle in the cells of the follicle.
Key words: amino acids/ammonia/human pre-ovulatory follicular fluid/IVF patients/urea
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