5. Conclusions
Acupuncture, kidney qi deficiency
SYNDROME
We used pseudo-targeted metabolomics to identify the different metabolites in the follicular fluid of the 3 groups of patients. From our results, 28 metabolites involving 3 metabolic pathways that are mainly related to follicular quality are either up-regulated or down-regulated after acupuncture intervention. These 3 pathways are retinol metabolism, glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism, and glycerophospholipid metabolism pathways. Acupuncture improves the syndrome of kidney qi deficiency in elderly patients through the regulation of the above metabolic pathways thus, improving the fertilization rate of 2PN, the high-quality embryo rate, and the cumulative pregnancy rate.