| Purpose There is no information available about the IL-18
receptor in ovarian follicles, so the present study attempts
to demonstrate the expression of IL-18 and its receptor in
human granulosa cells (GCs).
Methods To evaluate the concentration of IL-18 in serum
and follicular fluid (FF), we collected serum and FF from
102 women undergoing oocyte retrieval. Also, to detect
expression of IL-18 and its receptor by luteinized GCs,
these cells were pooled six times from a total of twenty
individual patients with 5–16 follicles each. The IL-18
concentration was determined by ELISA and the expression
of IL-18 and its receptor by immunocytochemistry and
reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.
Results Our results showed that the median IL-18 concentration
in serum, 159.27 pg/ml (IQR 121.41–210.1), was
significantly higher than in FF, 142.1 pg/ml (IQR 95.7–
176.5), p < 0.001. Moreover, we found that IL-18 and its
receptor are expressed by GCs. |