Effect of Quyu Jiedu Granule (祛瘀解毒颗粒) on microenvironment of ova in patients with endometriosis

Objective To observe the effect of Quyu Jiedu Granules (祛瘀解毒颗粒, QJG) on the micro- microenvironment of ova in patients with endometriosis (EM). environment Methods Twenty EM patients who received in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) were randomized equally into a treated group and a control group. Further, 20 patients who received IVF-ET due to oviduct factors were enrolled into a non-endometriosis group. The dosage of gonadotrophic hormone used, the number of ova attained, fertilization rate and clinical pregnancy rate were all observed, and the levels of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-⇌) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in follicular fluid as well as their mRNA expressions in ovarian granular cells were detected by RT-PCR on the very day of ovum attainment. Results The ova attainment (13.80±6.87) and fertilization rate (0.69±0.31) in the treated group were all higher than the corresponding values in the control group (9.80±5.32 and 0.47±0.22); the follicular fluid contents of TNF-α and IL-6 in the treated group were 1.38±0.21 ng/mL and 130.56±12.81 pg/mL, respectively, which were lower than those in the control group (1.98±0.34 ng/mL and 146.83±17.65 pg/mL, respectively). Further, the treated group showed much lower mRNA expressions of TNF-α and IL-6 in ovarian granular cells. Conclusions The elevation of TNF-α and IL-6 contents in follicular fluid and their mRNA expressions in ovarian granular cells are possibly related to the low quality of ova in EM; QJG might raise the ova quality by reducing TNF-α and IL-6 levels to improve the living micro-environment for the ova.