L-Carnitine Level in Seminal Plasma of Fertile and Infertile Men

Background: to determine any correlation between infertility and semen quality with concentrations of l-camitine in human seminal plasma.methods: this case-control study performed in fatemieh hospital in hamadan, iran. seminal plasma of 72 infertile men and 80 men with proved fertility as a control group was investigated and l-carnitinelevel was determined usinguv enzymatic test at 340 nm.results: the concentration of l-camitine was significantly lower in the infertile group compared with control group (80.59±56.43 mg/1 versus 108.43±42.26 mg/1; p= 0.0009). there was also a statisticallysignificant positive correlation between seminal plasma l-carnitine concentration, total sperm count, and the percentage of motile sperm (p= 0.0009, and p= 0.0000, respectively).conclusion: these finding suggest that the determination of seminal plasmal-camitine level may be a useful test in evaluation ofmale infertility.