SYDNEY, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Researchers from Australia's University of Queensland (UQ) have found that the common type 2 diabetes medication, Dapagliflozin, may provide a solution to improving fertility in women with obesity.
The study, published in the Journal of Endocrinology and released to the public on Thursday, detailed the results of a trial of a control experiment.
In the experiment, obese mice that were treated with Dapagliflozin saw their blood glucose levels normalize after eight weeks of treatment, along with the improvement of other indexes, and health indicators, that affect fertility.
"Blood glucose levels in the mice normalized, bodyweight reduced, reproductive cycles recovered, and reproductive hormones and ovulation were largely restored, compared with mice that were not treated," Professor Chen Chen, from UQ's School of Biomedical Sciences.
The researchers said many women with obesity experience fertility issues and altered levels of reproductive hormones, and this might be linked to changes in energy metabolism, which alter hormone levels and disrupt women's menstrual cycle and ovulation.
Obese individuals also have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and often have high blood glucose levels, and other metabolic changes, which further complicates matters.
Chen said the results were a promising sign, as humans and mice have relatively similar reproductive cycles. The findings suggested that normalizing blood glucose metabolism with Dapagliflozin in obesity may be a promising route for restoring reproductive function.
Researchers will now investigate the therapeutic benefits of using Dapagliflozin to improve reproductive function by examining molecular pathways in women's reproductive systems.
"Our findings are encouraging, but much more work needs to be done to confirm that these findings can be replicated in women," Chen said. ■
