Dehydroepiandrosterone Maintain Mitochondrial Quality of Cumulus Cells in Poor Ovarian Responders

The Role of Dehydroepiandrosterone in the Maintenance of Mitochondrial Quality of Cumulus Cells in Poor Ovarian Responders

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT03438812

Enrollment

Registered

2018-02-20

Start date

2017-09-06

Completion date

2019-12-31

Last updated

2021-02-18

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Poor Responders, Dehydroepiandrosterone

Brief summary

To investigate whether the DHEA supplementation could improve mitochondrial quality in poor ovarian responders

Detailed description

Women who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment participated, including normal ovarian responders (NORs) and poor ovarian responders (PORs). PORs were assigned to receive DHEA supplementation or not before the IVF cycle. For all patients, cumulus cells (CCs) were obtained after oocyte retrieval. In the CCs, mRNA expression of mitochondria-related genes was measured. To compare the mRNA expression of mitochondria-related genes in the CCs among the three groups.

Interventions

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTdehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)

Participants take DHEA 90 mg daily for two months at least before in vitro fertilization cycles.

Study design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

FEMALE

Age

25 Years to 45 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* Poor ovarian responders met the Bologna criteria, having at least two of the three following features: (1) advanced maternal age (≥ 40 years) or any other risk factor for POR, (2) a previous POR (≤ 3 oocytes with a conventional stimulation protocol), and (3) an abnormal ovarian reserve test. An abnormal ovarian reserve test was defined as antral follicle counts (AFC) \< 5 or anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) \< 1 ng/mL in this study. * Normal ovarian responders met the following criteria: (1) AFCs ≥ 5 or AMH ≥ 1 ng/mL and (2) the number of retrieved oocytes was between 5 and 15.

Exclusion criteria

* previous oophorectomy * exposure to cytotoxic or pelvic irradiation for malignancy * positive screening for recurrent pregnancy loss (chromosome mapping, antinuclear antibodies, extractable nuclear antigens, antiphospholipid antibodies, thrombophilic screening) * any other sensitizing or ovarian stimulating therapy during the previous 3 months

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
mitochondria related genes expression	through study completion, an average of 1 year	cumulus cells genes expression

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
oocytes	through study completion, an average of 1 year	retrieved oocytes in number
embryos	numbers will be confirmed 3 days after fertilization	day 3 embryos in number
pregnancy rate	pregnancy will be confirmed 4 weeks after embryo transfer	clinical pregnancy rate

Countries

Taiwan

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026