Fasting serum levels of adiponectin, ghrelin, and leptin in men with spinal cord injury.
OBJECTIVE
To measure serum levels of adiponectin, ghrelin, and leptin in men with spinal cord injury (SCI) and to investigate possible correlations between these serum levels and various factors, such as body mass index (BMI), age, injury level, and duration of injury.


METHODS
Cross-sectional.


METHODS
A university hospital that is a tertiary referral center.


METHODS
Eighty-nine men with traumatic neurologically complete SCI (30 with tetraplegia, 59 with paraplegia) and 37 age- and BMI-matched male controls. Subjects with SCI were injured at the mean age +/- standard error of 28.5+/-1.0 years (range, 14.7-59.1 y) and the mean injury duration was 10.8+/-0.7 years (range, 1.1-27.7 y).


METHODS
Not applicable.


METHODS
Serum levels of adiponectin, ghrelin, and leptin and BMI.


RESULTS
Serum leptin levels in subjects with SCI (mean, 7.0+/-0.5 mg/mL) [corrected] were significantly higher than those in able-bodied controls (mean, 4.7+/-0.6 mg/mL) [corrected] (P<.01). The group with tetraplegia had higher serum leptin levels than the group with paraplegia, but this did not reach a statistically significant level (8.2+/-1.1 ng/mL vs 6.4+/-0.5 mg/mL [corrected] P=.097). There were significant differences in serum leptin levels among the 3 groups by 1-way analysis of variance (P=.008). Serum adiponectin levels in subjects with SCI (7.1+/-0.5 mg/mL) [corrected] were higher than those in able-bodied controls (5.6+/-0.5 mg/mL) [corrected] but this was not statistically significant (P=.08). In contrast, serum levels of ghrelin in subjects with SCI (302.0+/-17.5 pg/mL) were similar to those in the controls (264.0+/-27.0 pg/mL) (P=.24). Serum leptin levels correlated positively with BMI (SCI, r=.698, P<.001; controls, r=.782, P<.001), whereas serum adiponectin (SCI, r=-.527, P<.001; controls, r=-.315, P=.057) and ghrelin (SCI, r=-.368, P<.001; controls, r=-.447, P=.006) levels correlated negatively with the BMI in both subjects with SCI and controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Men with SCI have significantly higher serum leptin levels than able-bodied controls, and serum leptin levels correlated with the degree of neurologic deficit. Men with SCI had a tendency toward higher serum adiponectin level than able-bodied controls. Serum levels of ghrelin in men with SCI were similar to those of controls.
Wang
Yen-Ho
YH
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
Huang
Tien-Shang
TS
Liang
Huey-Wen
HW
Su
Ta-Chen
TC
Chen
Ssu-Yuan
SY
Wang
Tzung-Dau
TD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005215:Fasting; D054439:Ghrelin; D006801:Humans; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000097:blood; D036361:Peptide Hormones / Q000097:blood*; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000097:blood; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000097:blood*
D054439:Ghrelin; D020738:Leptin; D036361:Peptide Hormones