In a goat study, researchers measured a hormone called inhibin A before giving a fertility drug (Ovagen, a form of FSH). Higher inhibin A levels and larger follicles on ultrasound predicted more embryos later on. The hormone basically tells you how many eggs the goat will produce after the treatment.

To test whether inhibin A assays can be used for the prediction of yields in embryo programmes in goats, 50 does were treated with 45 mg FGA sponges (Chronogest) for 16 days plus a single dose of 100 microg i.m. cloprostenol on Day 14, just before the start of administration of eight doses of 1.25 ml of Ovagen twice daily for 4 days. At first FSH injection, the number and size of all follicles > or =2 mm was assessed by transrectal ultrasound and plasma inhibin A levels were measured by specific dimeric assay. There was a positive correlation between number of follicles > or =6 mm (8.8 +/- 0.5) and inhibin A levels at first FSH dose (193.2 +/- 14.5 pg/ml, P<0.05). The mean number of corpora lutea on Day 7 after sponge removal was related to the total number of follicles with a diameter of 2-6 mm at the onset of the FSH treatment (15.3 +/- 0.7, P<0.05). The total number of embryos recovered was related to the number of follicles with 4-6 mm in size (6.2 +/- 0.5, P<0.05) and to the inhibin A levels at first FSH dose (P<0.05). These results suggest that follicles > or =4 mm are the source of inhibin prior to FSH stimulation and are the main source of oocytes resulting in the number of viable embryos recovered after a superovulatory treatment. Hence, the response to superovulatory treatments in goats in terms of the number of embryos can be predicted from either the population of follicles determined by ultrasound or the plasma inhibin A levels at start of the superovulatory FSH treatment.