Abstract
Objective To determine the efficacy of L-carnitine therapy in selected cases of male factor infertility.
Design Placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover trial.
Setting University tertiary referral center.
Patients One hundred infertile patients (ages 20-40 years) with the following baseline sperm
Selection Criteria concentration, 10-20 x 10(6)/mL; total motility, 10%-30%; forward motility, <15%; atypical forms, <70%; velocity, 10-30 micro/s; linearity, <4. Eighty-six patients completed the study.
Interventions Patients underwent L-carnitine therapy 2 g/day or placebo; the study design was 2 months of washout, 2 months of therapy/placebo, 2 months of washout, and 2 months placebo/therapy.
Main Outcome Measures Variation in sperm parameters used in the patients selection criteria, in particular, sperm motility. Excluding outliers, a statistically significant improvement in semen quality, greater than after the placebo cycle, was seen after the L-carnitine therapy for sperm concentration and total and forward sperm motility. The increase in forward sperm motility was more significant in those patients with lower initial values, i.e., <5 x 10(6) or <2 x 10(6) of forward motile sperm/ejaculate or sperm/mL.
Conclusions Based on a controlled study of efficacy, L-carnitine therapy was effective in increasing semen quality, especially in groups with lower baseline levels. However, these results need to be confirmed by larger clinical trials and in vitro studies.
L-carnitine therapy male factor infertility, carnitine sperm motility double-blind crossover trial, L-carnitine semen quality improvement, nutritional supplement oligospermia asthenospermia treatment, Lenzi carnitine sperm concentration motility, placebo-controlled crossover trial male infertility supplement, L-carnitine 2g daily sperm forward motility, antioxidant therapy male factor infertility randomized trial, carnitine low sperm motility concentration treatment, male infertility medical therapy non-surgical treatment
PMID 12568837 12568837 DOI 10.1016/s0015-0282(02)04679-4 10.1016/s0015-0282(02)04679-4
Keywords
Carnitine/therapeutic Use, Cross-Over Studies, Double-Blind Method, Humans, Infertility, Male/drug Therapy, Male, Placebos, Semen/drug Effects/physiology, Sperm Count, Sperm Motility/drug Effects, Spermatozoa/abnormalities/drug Effects, Placebos, Carnitine