Infertility and the Presence of Insulin Resistance Are Associated With Increased Oxidative Stress in Young, Non-obese Turkish Women With Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Study Objective: To investigate the relationship between both insulin resistance and fertility and the oxidant/antioxidant system in young, non-obese patients diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Design: Case-control study. Setting: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey. Participants: PCOS patients without insulin resistance (IR-) (n = 33), PCOS patients with insulin resistance (IR+) (n = 27), and healthy controls (n = 30). Patients with PCOS and regular sexual intercourse were further divided into infertile (n = 14) and fertile (n = 15) groups. Main Outcome Measures: The malondialdehyde (MDA) and thiol levels as well as the catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme activities. Results: Both IR+ and IR- PCOS patients had higher MDA levels and lower thiol levels when compared to the controls (each P < .001). However, only IR- patients had significantly higher SOD (3700.81 +/- 410.13 vs 2614.19 +/- 611.80 U/g Hb; P < .001) and CAT (7565.06 +/- 628.27 vs 6819.61 +/- 539.2 U/g Hb; P < .001) activities when compared to the controls. Infertile PCOS patients had significantly higher MDA levels (347.5 +/- 22.8 vs 278.6 +/- 42.6 nmol/g Hb, P < .001) and lower thiol levels (498.5 +/- 56.2 vs 568.5 +/- 38.6 mu mol/l, P = .001) when compared to fertile patients. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated an imbalance in the oxidative-antioxidative system of PCOS patients. This imbalance was worse in IR+ and infertile PCOS patients.