Insulin-like growth factors and their binding proteins in human follicular fluid

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Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that insulin-like growth factors I and II (IGF-I, IGF-II) have a regulatory role in animal granulosa cells. This study was undertaken to investigate the presence of IGF-I and IGF-II, as well as that of their binding proteins (BP), IGFBP-1 and IGFBP-3 in human serum and follicular fluid (FE). Preovulatory FF was obtained from 51 patients undergoing in-vitro fertilization. The IGFBP-1 level was found to be significantly higher (P< 0.01) In FE than in serum, whereas IGF-I and IGFBP-3 values remained markedly lower (PP<0.001) between individual serum and FE levels was observed only for IGF-I. When a group of poor responders was compared to patients with normal stimulation characteristics, no significant difference was found in either IGF or IGFBP levels in the FE. it is concluded that IGFBP-1 is produced locally, whereas the serum may possibly be the major source of IGF-I. No clear conclusions can be drawn regarding the source of FF IGF-II and IGFBP-3. Neither the absolute level nor the relationship of IGFs to their transport proteins could explain the poor response to ovarian stimulation.

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