Intra- and inter-individual variability of fatty acid composition of the follicular fluid in a cohort of 23 women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment

PURPOSE: To examine the intra- and inter-individual variability in fatty acid composition of follicular fluid (FF) of 23 patients undergoing assisted reproductive treatment. METHODS: The average coefficient of variation within each patient (CV(w)) and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) values of FF fatty acid composition as well as correlation between the fatty acid composition of individual, pooled or first-punctured follicles, were assessed. RESULTS: The proportions of 16:0, 18:0, cis-9 18:1, 18:2n-6, 20:5n-3, total MUFA and n-3 PUFA showed good reproducibility (CV(w)