Evaluation of the melatonin and oxidative stress markers level in serum of fertile and infertile women

Infertility is defined as the inability to achieve the pregnancy within a year of unprotected intercourse. Infertility is a complex issue and different factors such as stress oxidative can be involved in this problem. So, any attempt to neutralize oxidative stress would be helpful in the treatment of infertility. Melatonin is a known scavenger of free radicals. The aim of our study was to evaluate the level of melatonin and its correlation with oxidative biomarkers in fertile and infertile women. The participants including fertile and infertile women were divided into two groups of 30 people. Blood sampling was performed and sera were collected. The level of Malondialdehyde [MDA], total antioxidant capacity [TAG] and melatonin were detected. Data were analyzed using T-test and their correlation was assessed using Spearman test. Serum melatonin from fertile women was higher than infertile women but the difference was not significant [p= 0.46]. MDA level in fertile women was significantly lower than infertile women [p<0.001] and the level of TAG in fertile women was significantly higher than infertile women [p<0.001]. Spearman test revealed a significant and direct correlation between melatonin and TAG in fertile and infertile women and a significant but reverse correlation between melatonin and MDA in infertile and fertile women. Differences in the level of oxidative stress biomarkers in fertile and infertile individuals have been reported. This study revealed a significant correlation between melatonin and oxidative stress biomarkers, concluding that melatonin level could be involved in infertility

Pharmacological preconditioning with l-carnitine: relevance to myocardial hemodynamic function and glycogen and lactate content

Carnitine is a vital biologic substance facilitating fatty acids transport into mitochondria for ATP production. This study was to investigate the effects of pre-ischemic pharmacological preconditioning [PC] with L-carnitine [L-Car] on myocardial infarct size and cardiac functions in ischemic and reperfused isolated rat heart and meanwhile on left ventricular glycogen and lactate content. Isolated rat hearts were subjected to 30 min coronary artery occlusion followed by 120 min reperfusion. The hearts [n=8-12] were perfused with L-Car [0.5-5 mM] only for 15 min before to 10 min after induction of ischemia. Preconditioning of the hearts with L-Car provided concentration-dependent cardioprotection as evidenced by improved postischemic ventricular functional recovery [developed pressure, left ventricular end diastolic pressure and coronary flow rate] and reduced myocardial infarct size [p<0.001]. L-Car [2.5 mM] decreased both glycogen [p<0.001] and lactate [p<0.05] content in left ventricle during ischemia compared with the control. The results of this study demonstrate that L-Car pharmacologically precondition the hearts against ischemic and reperfusion injury in part by recovery of postischemic ventricular hemodynamic functions, depletion of glycogen and therefore reduction of lactate accumulation