Loading
Ovarian Function and Disorders / Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases · Journal article
Scientific Reports · September 3, 2026
Encouraging direction, but not yet definitive.
In a non-obese female cohort, adiponectin positively correlated with mental health scores in PCOS and controls, but a parallel mouse model with 65% adiponectin reduction did not exacerbate prenatal androgen-induced anxiety-like behaviour. This disconnect suggests adiponectin alone is insufficient to drive anxiety in PCOS-like phenotypes without concurrent hyperandrogenism, but the relationship remains incompletely understood across BMI and hormonal contexts.
Cross-sectional observational cohort study in humans; parallel transgenic mouse model (prenatal androgenization combined with adiponectin deficiency).. Women: 179 with PCOS and 228 without PCOS, stratified by BMI. Mice: prenatal androgenization model combined with adiponectin-deficient heterozygotes and controls.. Intervention: In mice: prenatal androgenization and/or adiponectin deficiency (APNhet genotype).. Compared with: In humans: PCOS vs. control, stratified by BMI. In mice: PNA alone vs. PNA+APNhet vs. controls..
Women with PCOS had lower total and high molecular weight adiponectin levels compared with controls Adiponectin positively correlated with mental component scores in women with BMI < 30, but not in those with obesity Free testosterone was inversely correlated with adiponectin
Safety was not reported in the material analysed. Check the source before drawing any conclusion about harm.
Clinicians should recognize that low adiponectin in lean women with PCOS correlates with worse mental health scores, but this relationship appears BMI-dependent and may require concurrent hyperandrogenism to drive anxiety phenotypes. Further research is needed before targeting adiponectin alone as a therapeutic approach for PCOS-associated mental health disorders.
A mixed mechanistic study combining human observational data with a targeted animal model, showing a significant human-animal disconnect that narrows but does not resolve the hypothesis about adiponectin and anxiety in PCOS.
As stated by the source record.
Quoted from the source exactly as published.
Clinicians should recognize that low adiponectin in lean women with PCOS correlates with worse mental health scores, but this relationship appears BMI-dependent and may require concurrent hyperandrogenism to drive anxiety phenotypes. Further research is needed before targeting adiponectin alone as a therapeutic approach for PCOS-associated mental health disorders.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by reproductive and metabolic disturbances and associated with higher prevalence of anxiety and depression. Circulating adiponectin, an insulin-sensitizing adipokine, is reduced in women with PCOS, and low adiponectin has been linked to impaired mental health, particularly in females. We investigated whether low serum adiponectin is associated with impaired mental health in women with PCOS and whether adiponectin deficiency exacerbates anxiety-like behaviour in a PCOS-like mouse model. Serum adiponectin was measured in women with (n = 179) and without PCOS (n = 228), stratified by body mass index (BMI). Health-related quality of life was assessed using the short form 36 (SF-36), generating physical and mental component scores. In parallel, the prenatal androgenization (PNA) PCOS-like mouse model was combined with adiponectin-deficient mice (APNhet) to assess the impact of reduced adiponectin on anxiety-like behaviour with and without prenatal androgen exposure. Women with PCOS had lower total and high molecular weight adiponectin levels compared with controls. Adiponectin positively correlated with mental component scores in women with BMI < 30, but not in those with obesity. Free testosterone was inversely correlated with adiponectin. In mice, PNA induced anxiety-like behaviour. However, despite a 65% reduction in serum adiponectin levels in APNhet PNA mice, adiponectin deficiency did not exacerbate the anxiety-like phenotype. Unlike women with PCOS, adult PNA mice were not hyperandrogenic. These findings suggest that adiponectin is associated with mental health in non-obese women, but reduced adiponectin alone does not induce anxiety-like behaviour in the absence of hyperandrogenism. Further studies in hyperandrogenic models are needed to clarify how adiponectin and hyperandrogenism interact across developmental stages and in different BMI groups to influence vulnerability to anxiety and depression in PCOS.Trial registrationClinical trial.gov: NCT01319162, NCT00484705, NCT01457209, and NCT00921492.
Taken from the source record, never inferred. Follow any of these and new work involving them reaches your briefing.