Low levels of Serum L-Carnitine may be associated with PCOS & Insulin Resistance

Reduced total L-carnitine levels in non-obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may be linked to hyperandrogenism and/or insulin resistance, say Turkish investigators.

Semin Fenkci and colleagues from Pamukkale University in Denizli studied 27 non-obese women with PCOS and 30 healthy women matched for age and body mass index. They measured serum lipid sub-fractions, fasting glucose, and insulin levels, along with concentrations of gonadotrophins, androgens, and total L-carnitine.

In comparison with controls, the participants with PCOS had significantly higher serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, total testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fasting insulin, as well as increased homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance measures, free androgen index (FAI), and LH/follicule-stimulating hormone ratios.

PCOS women had significantly lower levels of total L-carnitine and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels than controls.

Further analysis revealed that L-carnitine levels were significantly negatively correlated with FAI and positively correlated with SHBG. SHBG was shown on multivariate regression to be a strong predictor of serum total L-carnitine levels, at a beta value of 0.610.

"The outcomes of this study suggest that decreased serum total L-carnitine levels may be related with hyperandrogenism and/or insulin resistance in non-obese women with PCOS," the team says.