Serum free fatty acid levels in PCOS patients treated with glucophage, magnesium oxide and spironolactone

摘要

To assess the effect of glucophage, magnesium oxide and spironolactone in altering free fatty acids (FFAs), 36 PCOS women were randomly divided into three groups. Group 1 (n=14) was treated with 500mg glucophage po bid, group 2 (n=10) was treated with 400mg magnesium oxide po bid and group 3 (n=12) was treated with 50mg spironolactone po bid for 12 weeks. A glucose tolerance test with 75g glucose load was performed before and after treatment, collecting blood at 0, 1 and 2h for insulin, glucose, FFA and aldosterone. Amount of FFA before and after treatment were compared by repeated measure ANOVA and represented as area under the curve. FFA levels before treatment were 0.83±0.23, 0.77±0.15 and 0.85±0.28 and after treatment were 0.77±0.48, 0.71±0.18 and 0.66±0.25 for glucophage, magnesium oxide and spironolactone-treated patients, respectively. The FFA levels were unchanged in the groups treated with glucophage and magnesium oxide but were significantly (p<0.03) decreased in the group treated with spironolactone. Since FFAs are known to be involved in the development of insulin resistance, these results suggest that spironolactone may be useful for lowering insulin resistance in PCOS patients.