Glycosaminoglycans in follicular fluid from women undergoing in vitro fertilization and their relationship to cumulus expansion, fertilization, and development.

The glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) chondroitin sulfate (CS) and heparan sulfate (HS) were assayed in fluid from 178 individual follicles obtained from women after human menopausal gonadotropin ovulation induction for subsequent in vitro fertilization. CS and HS concentrations ranged from 0 to 3.9 and 0 to 18.6 mg/ml, respectively. The percentage of oocytes fertilized was significantly higher when CS concentrations ranged from 0.3 to 0.8 mg/ml (P less than 0.03). As HS levels increased, maturation scores by visual assessment of the egg-corona-cumulus cell complexes increased (P less than 0.05), but the percentage of oocytes fertilized was not affected. Cleavage rates of developing embryos were not related to the concentrations of GAGs.