Assessment of serum apelin levels in girls with anorexia nervosa.
BACKGROUND
Pilot studies in rats have suggested that apelin (APE) is involved in the control of appetite and food intake. APE is secreted in the organs involved in the control of hunger and satiety: the stomach, hypothalamus, and fat tissue. Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder that represents a good biological model of chronic fat tissue atrophy in humans. To date, there are no reports of APE expression in the fat tissue and its circulating concentrations in patients with AN.


OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to assess serum APE concentrations in girls with AN.


METHODS
APE-36 and APE-12 serum concentrations were evaluated in 87 Polish girls with restrictive AN, in 61 healthy (H) controls, 17 girls with no otherwise specified eating disorders (NOS), and 30 girls with simple obesity (OB).


RESULTS
Mean serum APE-36 and APE-12 concentrations in patients with AN and NOS were significantly lower than in the H and OB groups. However, no differences between AN, H, and NOS groups were observed when APE concentrations were calculated per body mass index (BMI). In participants with normal BMI, serum APE-36 (r = 0.35) and APE-12 (r = 0.37) concentrations correlated positively with BMI.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that compared with H controls, serum APE-36 and APE-12 concentrations decreased as a result of fat tissue depletion in patients with AN. Conversely, obese adolescents had elevated APE-36 and APE-12 due to excessive fat mass as well as increased APE production in adipose tissue.
Ziora
Katarzyna
K
Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, ul. 3-Maja 13/15, 41-800 Zabrze, Poland.
Oświecimska
Joanna
J
Swietochowska
Elzbieta
E
Ziora
Dariusz
D
Ostrowska
Zofia
Z
Stojewska
Małgorzata
M
Klimacka-Nawrot
Ewa
E
Dyduch
Antoni
A
Błońska-Fajfrowska
Barbara
B
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000502:physiology; D000293:Adolescent; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000097:blood*; D000073861:Apelin; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood; D011044:Poland
C115436:APLN protein, human; D000073861:Apelin; D015415:Biomarkers; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins