Abstract
Wrestling the vessel dilemma: Why too many hormones are dangerous during infertility treatment!
Hannah Brown
PhD candidate, Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
University of Adelaide
Artificial reproductive technologies (ART) are used to help infertile couples conceive a child. Hormones are used to stimulate the ovaries to produce more than the usual one egg per cycle. Occasionally, following this hormonal hyper-stimulation, too many follicles develop and a condition called ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS) may occur. This is an unpleasant experience, which may include abdominal swelling, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, lower abdominal pain and shortness of breath. Sadly, in some cases this syndrome can progress and endanger the life of the woman undergoing treatment. When severe, this syndrome requires substantial hospitalisation.
Using a mouse model, we have analysed changes in the female reproductive organs following treatment with hormones, similarly to those used during ART. We used novel techniques to look at blood and lymphatic vessel changes following treatment with hormones. These vessels are responsible for moving fluid throughout the body, and are involved in the progression of ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome. We demonstrated that following treatment with hormones, the size and number of lymphatic vessels increased within the ovary (female reproductive organ responsible for storage, growth and development of the egg). We also showed that the intricate mechanisms which control changes to the vessels (mediating fluid movement) were also changed, suggesting that the hormones that are used during human ART are altering ovarian blood and lymphatic vessels.
Understanding the role of these hormones is essential for understanding why women develop ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome during fertility treatment, and will help with treatment, and prevention of this painful and dangerous syndrome.
