title: Changes of serum angiogenic biomarkers and their correlations with serum leptin concentration.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Obesity is considered as a major health problem. Angiogenic vessels by providing oxygen, nutrients and growth factors trigger growth and survival signals in adipocytes. We aimed to investigate the effect of high-fat diet (HFD) on serum angiogenic biomarkers including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), soluble VEGF receptor 1 (sVEGFR1), nitric oxide (NO) concentrations and their correlations with serum leptin level in obese and control groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty male C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned into the control and obese groups. Obese group received HFD for 15 weeks. At the end of experiment, blood samples were collected for blood glucose, serum insulin, VEGF, sVEGFR1, NO and leptin level measurements and correlation between serum angiogenic factors and leptin levels were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HFD induced higher serum NO and leptin levels compared to the control group, while, it did not affect serum VEGF and sVEGFR1 concentrations. There was a strong positive correlation between serum leptin and NO levels (r=0.78), however, a weak correlation was found between serum leptin and VEGF and VEGFR-1 concentrations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It seems that the angiogenic activities in obese mice are through the mechanisms that were not regulated by VEGF or VEGF receptors rather; other factors such as leptin and NO are involved (Tab. 1, Fig. 4, Ref. 32).
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tahergorabi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khazaei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D059305:Diet, High-Fat; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000097:blood*; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood*; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D001786:Blood Glucose; D020738:Leptin; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D009569:Nitric Oxide; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1