EFFECT OF SERUM FROM FERTILE AND INFERTILE PATIENTS WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF MOUSE EMBRYOS

Objective. To evaluate the effect of serum from infertile and fertile patients with endometriosis on the development of 2-cell mouse embryos . Patients. Serum was obtained from 26 infertile patients and 8 fertil e patients with endometriosis. Mouse embryo development in serum sampl es was compared using chi(2) analysis. Results. In the infertile group 23% of the embryos reached blastocyst stage, whereas 22 of the 26 sam ples were embryo toxic. In the fertile group significantly more embryo s (45%) developed to blastocysts and only one serum sample was embryo toxic. Conclusion. The embryo toxicity of serum samples from patients with endometriosis is related to the infertility associated with the d isease and not with the disease per se.