November-December 2015 · Volume 4 · Issue 6 Page 1984 International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology Özdamar Ö et al. Int J Reprod Contracept Obstet Gynecol. 2015 Dec;4(6):1984-1987 www.ijrcog.org pISSN 2320-1770 | eISSN 2320-1789 Research Article Assessment of the relationship between follicular fluid calcium ion concentration and reproductive outcomes Özkan Özdamar 1 *, İsmet Gün 2 , Serdar Hira 2 , Belgin Devranoğlu 2 INTRODUCTION Despite significant advances in the field of reproductive medicine success rate still remain relatively low with clinical pregnancy rates at 33%. 1 All attempts assisted in reproduction to improve pregnancy rates as well as to reduce the possibility of multiple pregnancy is to choose the best quality embryo for transfer and to allow implantation of a single embryo. 2 Despite the importance of oocyte quality, current assessment of oocytes in assisted reproduction is limited and a variety of methods including oocyte morphology studies, 3 molecular and genetic methods 4 and polar body biopsies 5 are being employed for oocyte selection. However, most of these techniques are not applicable in the current practice since they are complicated, expensive and time-consuming 6 and an optimum technique to determine the best quality oocyte is at this time is still lacking. On the other hand the identification and quantification of follicular fluid (FF) composition can provide valuable information about the oocyte state which can be helpful in distinguishing those oocytes that have a greater capacity to be fertilized and to develop properly. 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gölcük Military Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Zeynep Kamil Maternity and Children’s Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey Received: 30 September 2015 Accepted: 2 November 2015 *Correspondence: Dr. Özkan Özdamar, E-mail: ozkan_ozdamar35@hotmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: Quantification of follicular fluid (FF) composition can provide valuable information about the oocyte state which can be helpful in distinguishing high and low quality oocyte. In the absence of appropriate calcium signaling at fertilization, the embryo may fail to implant and/or develop to full term. We herein aimed to investigate whether FF levels of Ca 2+ ion concentrations vary between patients who achieved pregnancy and those who did not following a standard ICSI treatment regimen, and hence to determine whether FF Ca 2+ levels could predict reproductive outcomes in patients undergoing ICSI. Methods: Patients seeking treatment for solely unexplained infertility were recruited in the period between June and December 2013 and were assigned to the groups according to their reproductive outcomes. Group 1 consisted of patients who conceived and Group 2 consisted of those who did not achieve pregnancy following ICSI. Parametric comparisons were performed using Student’s t-test. Categorical data were evaluated by using χ 2 test. Results: Groups 1 and 2 consisted of 34 and 66 patients, respectively. Although FF Ca 2+ ion concentrations were higher in those who did not achieve any pregnancy, the difference did not reached to statistical significance level (7.6±0.4 mg/dl and 7.9±0.9 mg/dl respectively, p=0.070). Conclusions: FF Ca 2+ ion concentrations did not significantly differ between patients who achieved pregnancy and who did not followed ICSI attempts. Thus FF Ca 2+ levels do not appear to be of benefit in predicting reproductive outcomes in unexplained infertility patients undergoing ICSI cycles. Keywords: Follicular fluid, Calcium, Oocyte, ICSI, Reproductive outcomes DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20151299