Effect of soothing liver therapy on oocyte quality and growth differentiation factor-9 in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.

To investigate the effect of Soothing liver therapy on infertile women undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) and to explore its mechanism. Fifty-eight women with tubal infertility were randomized into two groups: 30 in an experimental group treated with Xiaoyao powder (Shugan) plus gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRHa)/follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)/ human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and 28 in the control group who were treated with GnRHa/FSH/ hCG only. The total gonadotropin (Gn) doses required, endometrial thickness, oocyte numbers, high quality embryo production rate and pregnancy rate of the two groups were compared. The concentration of growth differentiation factor-9 (GDF-9) in follicular fluid was detected by western blotting and the expression of GDF-9 mRNA in granulosa cells was measured using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction amplification. In the experimental group, the Gn dose was significantly lower than that in the control group; the endometrial thickness, high quality embryo production and pregnancy rates were significantly higher and the expression of GDF-9 mRNA was also significantly higher than in the control group (all P < 0.05). Shugan treatment can improve the pregnancy rate of women with tubal infertility; its mechanism is possibly related to the increased expression of GDF-9 in granulosa cells.