title: Plasma leptin in depressed patients and healthy controls.
abstract: Leptin is known to regulate food intake and energy expenditure. Since loss of appetite and bodyweight are important signs and symptoms of major depression we studied leptin plasma concentrations in both depressed patients (n = 24) suffering from loss of appetite and a healthy control group (n = 33). To rule out the possibility of inferences with other endocrine parameters known to be changed in depression or suspected to be related to leptin, we also studied cortisol, insulin, growth hormone (GH) and GH-binding protein (GHBP). We found that leptin plasma concentrations did not differ between depressed patients and healthy controls. However, leptin was positively associated with female gender, body mass index (BMI) and morning insulin. 24-hour mean cortisol was not related to leptin. Also, GH and GHBP were not related to leptin when controlled for BMI in an ANCOVA model. We conclude that leptin plasma concentrations are unchanged in depression and that there is no evidence for leptin playing a major role in loss of appetite and body weight in depressed patients.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Clinical Institute, München, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deuschle
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Blum
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Englaro
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schweiger
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Pflaum
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Heuser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001066:Appetite / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D003863:Depression / Q000097:blood*; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D020738:Leptin; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D020738:Leptin; D011506:Proteins; D006854:Hydrocortisone