• G Garruti, R de Palo, M T Rotelli, S Nocera, I Totaro, C Nardelli, M A Panzarino, M Vacca, L E Selvaggi, and F Giorgino.
• Section of Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Andrology and Metabolic Diseases, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza G. Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy.
• Biomed Res Int. 2014 Jan 1; 2014: 980429.

AimsWe evaluated the links between leptin and visfatin levels and fertilization rates in nonoverweight (NOW) women with PCOS (NOW-PCOS) from Apulia undergoing in vitro fertilization/embryo transfer (IVF).Materials And MethodologyWe recruited 16 NOW women with PCOS (NOW-PCOS) and 10 normally ovulating NOW women (control-NOW). All women underwent IVF. Androgens, 17- β -estradiol (17 β -E2), and insulin levels were measured in plasma and/or serum and leptin and visfatin levels were assayed in both serum and follicular fluid (FF-leptin, FF-visfatin).ResultsIn NOW-PCOS, both serum and FF-leptin were significantly lower than in control-NOW. In NOW-PCOS, significant correlations were found between BMI and serum leptin and insulinemia and FF-leptin. By contrast, in control-NOW, FF-leptin levels were not correlated with insulinemia. Serum visfatin levels were not significantly different in NOW-PCOS and control-NOW, but FF-visfatin levels were 1.6-fold higher, although not significantly, in NOW-PCOS than in control-NOW.ConclusionsBoth serum leptin levels and FF-leptin are BMI- and insulin-related in Southern Italian NOW-PCOS from Apulia. In line with other reports showing that FF-leptin levels are predictive of fertilization rates, lower than normal FF-leptin levels in NOW-PCOS may explain their lower fertilization rate and this may be related to the level of insulin and/or insulin resistance.

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