Role of Platelet Rich Plasma and Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor Combination Intrauterine Perfusion Therapy in the Embryo Implantation Dysfunction Rats

Abstract

Background: Infertility is becoming a global reproductive health problem. In vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection embryo transfer (IVF/ICSI-ET) has become an important method for infertility treatment. However, repeated implantation failure (RIF) is a major problem in infertility treatment. Here, we aimed to explore the effects of platelet rich plasma (PRP) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) combination therapy through single intrauterine perfusion in the embryo implantation dysfunction rats. Methods: Seventy Sprague-Dawley (SD) female rats and thirty male rats were purchased for free mating. Rats who find vaginal plugs are recorded as the first day of pregnancy of female rats. Then rats with vaginal plugs were randomly divided into 5 groups, control, model, model+PRP, model+G-CSF, and model+PRP+G-CSF. 10 rats in each group. After treatment, the uterine tissue of the rats in each group was collected for subsequent experiments. Results: The results showed that PRP or G-CSF intrauterine perfusion improved the pregnancy rate and average number of implanted blastocysts in the embryo implantation dysfunctional rats (p < 0.001). Additionally, PRP or G-CSF intrauterine perfusion effectively improved the endometrial receptivity in the embryo implantation dysfunctional rats, as shown by the increase of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) levels and the decrease of growth-regulated oncogene α (GROα) and interferon inducible protein 10 (IP-10) levels (p < 0.001). Importantly, the effects of PRP and G-CSF combination therapy on the pregnancy rate, average number of implanted blastocysts (p < 0.001) and endometrial receptivity (p < 0.001) were more effective than either of them alone. Conclusion: PRP and G-CSF combination intrauterine perfusion therapy effectively improved the embryo implantation dysfunction, which provided a novel insight for RIF.