Metabolic signature of follicular fluid in infertility-related diseases: a narrative review

review OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 3 in-corpus citations
AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07

This review discusses the role of follicular fluid metabolites in various infertility-related diseases.

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Abstract

Metabolomics offers new methods to identify biomarkers for oocyte and embryo quality, and for a better understanding of the physiopathology of infertility. This review investigated the latest findings regarding metabolome-derived biomarkers in follicular fluid of women with the most common types of infertility, and the potential impact on reproductive medicine outcomes. PubMed was searched for publications on metabolomics and human follicular fluid, and key biomarkers, kinetics and relationships with infertility diseases were identified. A reduced concentration of glucose and increased concentrations of lactate and pyruvate were found in follicular fluid of patients with endometriosis and diminished ovarian reserve, and the opposite was found in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome. These signatures may lead to the hypothesis of changed metabolite concentrations in patients with endometriosis and diminished ovarian reserve, and a metabolic pathway alteration with decreased aerobic glycolysis in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome. However, the pattern found in patients with endometriosis and low responders may also be expected in follicular fluid of fertile women. Larger studies are needed to confirm the results. An international database may help to highlight follicular fluid biomarkers in order to improve the selection of cryopreserved oocytes, and to enrich culture medium to restore normal metabolism and improve reproductive treatment outcomes.

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Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Follicular Fluid Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Infertility, Female

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References (73)

Cited by (3)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-24T06:10:11.469335+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-06-24T06:08:22.587699+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK