Korean J Med.  2005 Dec;69(6):631-641.

The relationship of adiponectin, leptin and ghrelin to insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk factors in human obesity

• Kim JY
• Shin HW
• Jeong IK
• Cho SW
• Min SJ
• Lee SJ
• Park CY
• Oh KW
• Hong EG
• Kim HK
• Kim DM
• Yu JM
• Ihm SH
• Choi MG
• Yoo HJ
• Park SW

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adiponectin, letin and ghrelin are considered to take part in the regulation of energy metabolism. We investigated the relationship between these adipokines and body mass index (BMI), regional adiposity, insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk factors in human.
METHODS
Eighty six (Male : Female = 36 : 50, Age = 21-71 year old, BMI : 18 - 39.5 kg/m2) subjects without known medical problems participated in this study. Subjects were grouped based on BMI or visceral fat area (VFA) and gender. We measured lipid concentration, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and high sensitivity CRP (hsCRP). Body fat distribution was determined by computed tomography. Fasting serum adiponectin, leptin, and ghrelin were measured by ELISA.
RESULTS
The group of BMI over 25 kg/m2 showed significant difference in waist circumference (WC), total fat area (TFA), subcutaneous fat area (SFA), VFA, Triglyceride (TG), hsCRP and leptin. Visceral fat dominant (VFD) group (VFA>or=100 cm2 or VFA/SFA>or=0.4) showed significant difference in age, BMI, WC, TFA, SFA, free fatty acid, HOMA-IR, hsCRP, adiponectin, leptin and ghrelin. Leptin was positively correlated with BMI, waist hip ratio (WHR), TFA, VFA, SFA, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), HOMA-IR and fasting insulin. Adiponectin was negatively correlated with BMI, WHR, TFA, VFA, HOMA-IR and positively correlated with High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Ghrelin level was negatively correlated with WHR, VFA, fasting glucose, HOMA-IR and positively correlated with HDL-C. And leptin was negatively correlated with ghrelin. As regional adiposity, SFA was positively correlated with leptin, and VFA was negatively correlated with adiponectin and ghrelin and positively correlated with leptin.
CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated that VFA had more significant association with lipid metabolism and adipokine secretion than BMI and leptin levels were inversely correlated with ghrelin level.

Keyword

Obesity; Adiponectin; Leptin; Ghrelin; Visceral adipose tissue; BMI; Cardiovascular risk factor

MeSH Terms

Adipokines
Adiponectin*
Adiposity
Body Fat Distribution
Body Mass Index
Cholesterol
Energy Metabolism
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Fasting
Female
Ghrelin*
Glucose
Humans*
Insulin Resistance*
Insulin*
Intra-Abdominal Fat
Leptin*
Lipid Metabolism
Lipoproteins
Obesity*
Risk Factors*
Subcutaneous Fat
Triglycerides
Waist Circumference
Waist-Hip Ratio
Adipokines
Adiponectin
Cholesterol
Ghrelin
Glucose
Insulin
Leptin
Lipoproteins