Serum butyrylcholinesterase activity and phenotype associations with lipid profile during various phases of menstrual cycle in young healthy women with regular menses, a preliminary report

In this study the association of phenotypes and activity of butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) with serum level of lipid-lipoprotein and apolipoproteins during various phases of menstrual-cycle was determined. The study population consisted of 22 healthy women aged 19–25 years with regular menstrual cycles, 26–30 days in length. The serum levels of lipids, apolipoproteins, and BuChE activity were determined during menses (days 1-2 after the beginning of menstruations), follicular (days 7-8) and luteal (days 21-22) phases of the menstrual cycle. There were significant differences in the level of serum BuChE activity during three phases of the menstrual cycle (P=0.049). The activity of serum BuChE was the highest during follicular phase (890 ± 292 IU/L), the modest during the menses phase (831 ± 222 IU/L) and the lowest during luteal phase (707 ±211 IU/L). We found a significant positive correlation between BuChE activity with the levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, r=0.34, P=0.038) in the follicular and in the menses phase with LDL-C (r=0.4, P =0.025) and triacylglycerol (r=0.47, P=0.033). In addition, carriers of the non-UU phenotypes (non-wild type low BuChE activity) had significantly lower levels of serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and apolipoprotein A1 (APOA1) compared to UU phenotype (usual or wild type) during menstrual cycle. Our results demonstrate that serum BuChE activity elevates during menstrual cycle. It is low during luteal phase and reaches to a high level in follicular-phase. The lipid profiles are also affected by BuChE activity throughout the menstrual-cycle in reproductive aged, regularly cycling and young healthy women.