Amino Acids May Improve Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Infertility

Amino acid therapy may represent a new approach to restoring ovulation and menstruation and improving pregnancy rate in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

In women with PCOS increased oxidative stress may inhibit oocyte maturation and ovulation by reducing levels of nitric oxide (NO), a molecule that plays an important role in healthy reproductive function.  Theoretically nutritional intervention with the amino acids n-acetylcysteine (a potent antioxidant) and arginine (the precursor to nitric oxide) should restore the underlying pathology of PCOS and improve the condition. This is exactly what a group from the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Italy set out to test.

In a small open label study, 8 women with PCOS who reported only 3 menstrual cycles in the previous year received 1200 mg n-acetylcysteine and 1600 mg arginine daily for 6 months. At the end of the study menstruation frequency increased, ovulation, as assessed by basal body temperature, increased and one woman fell pregnant on the second month of treatment and delivered a healthy child. An improvement in blood glucose and insulin control was also noted.

Comment:

PCOS may affect as many as 1 in 10 reproductive age women with many cases going undiagnosed. The central abnormality that results in the development of PCOS is arguably insulin resistance. Hyperinsulinemia increases testosterone production, conversely lowering insulin results in reductions in testosterone. Both arginine and n-acetylcysteine may act as insulin sensitising agents, an action that may explain these preliminary findings in PCOS.

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Source:

Masha A, et al. Prolonged treatment with N-acetylcysteine and L-arginine restores gonadal function in patients with PCO syndromeJ. Endocrinol. Invest. Published ahead of print April 15, 2009.