Serum Metabolomic Signature Predicts Ovarian Response to Controlled Stimulation

In in vitro fertilization (IVF), it is meaningful to find novel biomarkers predicting ovarian response in advance. The aim of the study was to identify serum metabolomics predicting ovarian response after controlled ovarian stimulation (COS). Blood samples collected at the start of pituitary downregulation and on the fifth day after COS using Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods were analyzed to quantify metabolites. Demographic data were calculated with SPSS version 22.0 software. Multivariate statistics were used to analyze metabolomics dataset. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic model. Analyses revealed 50 different metabolomics between the pre- and post-COS groups. Compared with baseline, amino acids increased significantly following COS. At baseline, acetylglycine was more abundant in FOI<1 group, while glycine and lipids increased in FOI≥1 group. After COS, glycine, N-acetyl-L-alanine, D-alanine, and 2-aminomuconic acid were higher in those with FOI≥1, but L-glutamine was abundant in FOI<1. ROC curves indicated that combination of glycine, acetylglycine, and lipids predicts different responses to COS (AUC=0.866). Serum metabolism might reflect the response to ovarian stimulation. Higher glycine and PC may be a good predictor for response to COS.