Hair Samples May Accurately Predict Fertility Levels In Women: Study

Human hair samples can now be used to detect fertility hormones, according to a new study. Such a non-invasive test could be used to find biologically relevant levels of an important fertility hormone in women’s hair.

Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is expressed only by the ovaries and plays a crucial role in regulating early follicle development. Not only is AMH levels a good predictor of menopause, but it is an important test to find out if a woman has a normal ovarian reserve. The more egg cells there are, the higher the AMH level.

AMH levels can determine a woman’s ability to get pregnant and are therefore used in many fertility clinics as a routine test.

At present, AMH is measure in serum, taken from blood samples drawn intravenously. While the method is relatively invasive, the readings represent a measurement at a short moment in time.

But according to the new study which tested the quantification of AMH from human hair found it to be a less invasive and more appropriate representation of the hormone levels.

The Study:

Hair and blood samples were collected from 152 women who participated in the study. The researchers measured AMH levels in serum and were used to provide a control, alongside an ultrasound count of developing follicles in the ovaries.

The results revealed that biologically relevant levels of AMH were detected in their hair samples, and the levels declined with their age. They also found that AMH levels from hair samples strongly correlated with both serum levels as well as ultrasound results.

The researchers highlighted that the hair test was able to detect a wide range of AMH levels within women from a similar age group and provided greater accuracy than blood tests. This is because hormones accumulate in hair shafts over a period of months, whereas in serum, it can change over the course of hours.

"So hair is a medium that can accumulate biomarkers over several weeks, while serum is an acute matrix representing only current levels. While hormone levels in the blood can fluctuate rapidly in response to stimuli, hormone levels measured in hair would represent an accumulation over several weeks. A measurement using a hair sample is more likely to reflect the average hormone levels in an individual," EurekAlert quoted the study researchers.