Progesterone receptors content of the endometrium in patients with luteal phase defect and its relationship to endometrium maturation and serum progesterone level

Luteal phase defect [LPD], a disorder characterized by delayed secretory endometrial maturation is associated with infertility and/or recurrent abortion. This endometrial retardation may not be a result of deficient progesterone secretion, but rather a consequence of endometrial failure to respond adequately to progesterone stimulation. This study included 20 patients with LPD suffering of infertility or habitual abortion and 20 control cases. All cases were subjected to endometrial biopsy on the 26th day of the cycle to assess maturation, immunostaining of the endometrial tissue for progesterone receptor content and serum progesterone level on the 25th and 26th days of the same cycle. The endometrial maturation had a lag of 4.46 days in infertile cases and 4.86 days in habitual aborters. The difference was insignificant. The serum progesterone levels showed no significant difference between study and control cases. The glandular progesterone receptors were higher in LPD cases, while stromal receptors were more in the control cases. These results suggested that serum progesterone determination is not ideal for LPD prediction. Estimation of progesterone receptors in the endometrium is valuable as failure of down regulation of glandular progesterone receptors in late luteal phase may be an etiologic factor in LPD