title: Increased plasma levels of the mature and intermediate forms of adrenomedullin in obesity.
abstract: Adrenomedullin (AM) is a cardiovascular protective peptide produced in various organs and tissues including adipose tissue. In the present study, we measured the plasma AM levels of subjects with or without obesity by two assay methods to separately evaluate the biologically active AM-NH(2) and the intermediate form of AM-glycine (AM-Gly). We measured the total AM and AM-NH(2) levels of plasma in 52 obese and 172 non-obese residents of a Japanese community, who received regular health check-ups and had no overt cardiovascular disease. AM-Gly values were obtained by subtracting AM-NH(2) levels from those of total AM. Both the AM-NH(2) and AM-Gly levels of the subjects with obesity were higher than those without obesity, and significant relationships were noted between body mass index (BMI) and the plasma levels of the two molecular forms of AM in a simple regression analysis. Moreover, the significant factors identified by multivariate analyses were BMI and serum triglyceride for AM-NH(2) and diastolic blood pressure, insulin, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and plasma renin activity for AM-Gly. These results suggest active roles for the two molecular forms of AM in metabolic disorders associated with obesity in subjects without overt cardiovascular disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Circulatory and Body Fluid Regulation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Kiyotake, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan.
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Johji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tokashiki
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kitamura
mesh_terms: D053607:Adrenomedullin / Q000097:blood*; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012083:Renin / Q000097:blood; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D007328:Insulin; D014280:Triglycerides; D053607:Adrenomedullin; D012083:Renin