ENDOMETRIAL ASSESSMENT BY MOLECULAR MARKERS IN NORMAL FERTILE WOMEN AND WOMEN WITH UNEXPLAINED INFERTILITY

Abstract

Fertility in humans and other mammalian

species depends absolutely on synchronous events that make the developing blastocyst and the receiving uterus competent for implantation (Makker and Singh7 2006). In patients with unexplained infertility; a subgroup responsible for 10-28% of infertility

patient populations (Hull et al.

1985; Templeton et

al.

2003), implantation failure due to defects in

endometrial maturation is perceived as one of the important underlying causes. Hence, there is a need to assess the endometrium accurately for defects that could preclude implantation {Lindhard et al.7 2002).

For the last six decades, endometrial receptivity was mainly assessed by measuring endometrial thickness and histological maturation. The main stay of endometrial assessment has been histological dating as described by Noyes et al. (1950). Modifications to this system of dating the biopsy sample based on the most advanced component have been proposed later e.g. Hendrickson and Kempson7 (1980) modifications.