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-carnitine 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-carnitine level was determined using uv enzymatic test at 340 nm. results: the concentration of l-carnitine was significantly lower in the infertile group compared with control group (80.59 â± 56.43 mg/l versus 108.43 â± 42.26 mg/l; p = 0.0009). there was also a statistically significant 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 plasma l-carnitine level may be a useful test in evaluation of male infertility.