Impact of Progesterone on Inhibins during Controlled Ovarian Stimulation

Background:To explore the impact of progesterone on inhibins during controlled ovarian stimulation in women with normal ovarian reserve and to compare cycle characteristics and pregnancy outcomes in subsequently frozen-thawed embryo transfer(FET)cycles.Methods:A total of 93 patients were randomly divided into two groups,study group(human menopausal gonadotropin[hMG]+medroxyprogesterone acetate[MPA])and control group(short protocol).Serum hormones were detected on day 3 before ovarian and day 10-12,the trigger day,and the day after trigger(approximately 10 h after trigger).Viable embryos were cryopreserved for later transfer in both protocols.Results:In the study group,inhibins signifcantly increased during ovarian stimulation,and the average inhibins level on the trigger day was signifcantly higher than the basal levels.Inhibin A level increased significantly to 2046.7±1280.5 ng/L after trigger 10 h.Serum inhibin B level slightly decreased at the time of trigger 10 h later compared with the trigger time but did not reach a significant difference.The number of oocytes retrieved in study group was similar to that in control(10.5±4.5 vs.9.0±5.2,P<0.05).No statistically significant differences were found in the clinical pregnancy rate(47.4%vs.52.2%,P<0.05),implantation rate(36.5%vs.36%),and live birth rate(43.4%vs.39.1%,P<0.05)between the two groups.Conclusions:The high level of progesterone did not affect the secretion in granulosa cells during the controlled ovarian stimulation.Therefore,sufficient oocytes/embryos can be obtained by hMG and MPA co-treatment in women undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatments,with optimal pregnancy outcomes in FET cycles.