Superoxide dismutase in polycystic ovary syndrome patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection

PURPOSE: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with oxidative stress (OS) and serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity has been reported with mixed results. The objective of this study was to examine the activity of SOD both in the serum and FF from women with PCOS undergoing ICSI, as well as the expression of Cu/Zn-SOD mRNA in the cells recovered from the FF. METHODS: Forty women undergoing an ICSI trial were divided into: group I, included 20 PCOS cases, group II included 20 age-matched controls with tubal factor infertility. Both groups were similarly stimulated. A total of 204 metaphase II (MII) oocytes were aspirated; (108) from PCOS, and (96) from the control group. SOD activities in the serum and FF, as well as Cu/Zn-SOD (SOD1) mRNAs in follicular fluid (FF) cells were analyzed. RESULTS: There was a statistically highly significant decrease (p < 0.001) both in the mean serum SOD (45.56 ± 18.06) and FF SOD activity (42.49 ± 11.46) in PCOS than the control group (77.38 ± 7.82), (74.37 ± 6.15) respectively. The mean relative levels of Cu, Zn SOD mRNAs was significantly lower (p  0.05), or embryo quality after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). CONCLUSION: Although decreased SOD activity in FF has no effect on fertilization rate and/or embryo quality, serum SOD activity could be a clinical parameter for determining systemic oxidative stress in PCOS.