Correlation of oxidative stress and serum gonadotropins in female infertility - A cross sectional study in a tertiary care hospital in Eastern Zone of India

ABSTRACT

Background: Infertility is a very important issue to family and society. Oxidative stress (OS) may affect ovulation, fertilization, embryo development, and implantation resulting in infertility in women. Gonadotropins are required for follicle development and estrogen production, hence low levels of these hormones may result infertility. Aim and Objectives: Our aim was to study OS and serum gonadotropins level in infertile women and to study whether the OS has any effect on gonadotropins level in infertile women. Materials and Methods: It is a hospital-based cross-sectional study. The study group included 50 infertile women in the age of 20–45 years. Age-matched 50 women without a history of infertility were selected as control. Serum samples were collected on the third day of the menstrual cycle and assayed for carbonylation of serum protein, a marker of OS by Levine’s method and Serum Follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone by Chemiluminescence Immunoassay method in ADVIA, Centaur CP (SIEMENS) autoanalyzer. Statistical analysis of data was done by SPSS software. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: From our study, we observed that OS was significantly high in infertile women than control (P < 0.05). Serum gonadotropins levels were significantly low in infertile women than control (P < 0.05). Our study shows significant negative correlations between OS and serum gonadotropins level in infertile women (P < 0.001). Conclusion: It can be concluded that both OS and low serum gonadotropin levels may be etiological factors for infertility in women. Oxidative can cause infertility by direct effect on reproduction physiology as well as by lowering gonadotropin level. So OS and serum gonadotropin levels can be emphasized in case of treatment of female infertility.