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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on February 15, 2008
Human Reproduction 2008 23(4):958-963; doi:10.1093/humrep/den020
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Maternal serum ghrelin levels in early IVF pregnancies: lack of prognostic value for viable pregnancy and altered post-prandial responses

Carmen Vidal1,4, Juan Roa2,3, Leonor Pinilla2,3, Antonio Pellicer1 and Manuel Tena-Sempere2,3

1 Instituto Universitario Valenciano de Infertilidad IVI Valencia, University of Valencia, Plaza Policía Local, 3, 46015 Valencia, Spain 2 Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, University of Córdoba, 14004 Córdoba, Spain 3 CIBER (CB06/03) Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, Instituto Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain

4 Correspondence address. E-mail: c.vidal{at}ivi.es

BACKGROUND: Ghrelin is a pleiotropic hormone, involved in the control of growth and metabolism, whose circulating levels fluctuate in relation to food intake and body mass index. Ghrelin has been detected in the decidualized endometrium, as well as in human and rat placenta.

METHODS: A total of 106 patients undergoing IVF procedures were prospectively recruited. On Days 16 and 23 after oocyte retrieval, the patients were subjected to blood sampling after overnight fasting, for determination of serum ghrelin, hCGβ and progesterone levels. In addition, ghrelin levels were assayed in these groups, 2 h after ingestion of a fixed-calorie meal.

RESULTS: The subjects were divided according to whether they achieved an ongoing pregnancy. On Days 16 and 23 after oocyte retrieval, pre-prandial serum ghrelin levels were not statistically different, although a general trend toward a decrease in circulating ghrelin by Day 23 was detected in pregnant groups. Although in non-conceiving subjects, maternal ghrelin levels showed an expected 15% decline after meal ingestion, such a post-prandial decrease was not statistically significant in pregnant women, selectively on Day 16 after oocyte retrieval.

CONCLUSIONS: Maternal ghrelin levels at early gestational age do not appear to pose diagnostic (as marker) or prognostic value for pregnancy outcome in IVF procedures.

Key words: ghrelin/progesterone/human choriogonadotrophin (hCG)/assisted reproduction techniques/early pregnancy

Submitted on May 10, 2007; resubmitted on December 15, 2007; accepted on December 31, 2007.


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