Are plasma ghrelin and PYY concentrations associated with obesity-related depression?
BACKGROUND
Recent experimental studies have revealed that increased ghrelin levels protect against depressive symptoms of chronic stress in rats. Moreover it was shown that neuropeptide Y (NPY) has an anxiolytic-like effect mediated through both Y1 and Y5 receptors. On the other hand, peptide YY inhibits, while ghrelin stimulates, the release of NPY. The aim of this study was to assess the association between plasma concentrations of ghrelin and PYY and the level of depression in obese women.


METHODS
In forty-five obese women (55 +/- 7 years old) without concomitant diseases, body composition was estimated by bioimpedance method, in addition to anthropometric measurements. Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) was used for the evaluation of depression levels. Plasma concentrations of ghrelin and PYY were measured in collected blood samples.


RESULTS
23 (55.1%) women had severe (22.0 +/- 5.2 pts) and 10 (22.2%) had mild (12.1 +/- 1.9 pts) levels of depression. Obese women with concomitant depression were of similar age and had comparable body mass, BMI, and body composition as those without depression. In addition, there were no differences in plasma ghrelin and PYY levels between the study subgroups. No correlation between BDI and plasma concentrations of ghrelin or PYY was found.


CONCLUSIONS
Depression in obese women does not seem to be related to the plasma levels of ghrelin and PYY.
Olszanecka-Glinianowicz
Magdalena
M
Health Promotion and Obesity Management Unit, Department of Pathophysiology, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland. magols@esculap.pl
Kocełak
Piotr
P
Wikarek
Tomasz
T
Gruszka
Wojciech
W
Dabrowski
Piotr
P
Chudek
Jerzy
J
Zahorska-Markiewicz
Barbara
B
D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D054439:Ghrelin / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000378:metabolism; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019894:Peptide YY / Q000378:metabolism*
D054439:Ghrelin; D009478:Neuropeptide Y; D019894:Peptide YY