APPLICATION OF IMAGE-ANALYSIS CYTOMETRY IN FOLLICULAR-FLUID CELLS OBTAINED FROM IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION CYCLES - RELATIONSHIPS TO PATIENTS AGE, OOCYTE MATURITY, FERTILIZABILITY AND IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION OUTCOME

In an in-vitro fertilization (IVF)/embryo transfer programme granulosa cells obtained from 59 individual pre-ovulatory follicles were analys ed using multiparameter image analysis cytometry, in an attempt to det ermine whether their morphometric and DNA-cytometric parameters could prove useful in assessing follicle and oocyte maturity and in predicti ng fertilizability and outcome of these IVF cycles. Almost all morphom etric and DNA-cytometric parameters were not correlated with either th e patient's age or oocyte maturity, and did not predict oocyte fertili zation or occurrence of a clinical pregnancy. The only possible releva nt parameter which, despite its inverse correlation to total luteinizi ng hormone administration, also proved to be inversely correlated to p regnancy outcome (in the seven cases in which a pregnancy occurred), w as the percentage of granulosa cell nuclei with increased DNA content (greater than 5c). Finally, if granulosa cells do not reveal euploid p olyploidization in spontaneous or induced ovulatory cycles, the detect ed cells with increased DNA content should be interpreted as aneuploid , ie with chromosomal aberrations, and so their presence could also be discussed in connection with the hypothetical risk of prospective neo plastic transformation of the tissue.