title: Low levels of plasma galanin in obese subjects with hypertension.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obesity is strongly linked to increased blood pressure, which increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. To our knowledge, little literature reported the information about galanin levels in obese individuals with hypertension. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the possible involvement of galanin in the pathogenesis of obese subjects with hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured body mass index and blood pressure of 38 obese patients with hypertension, 44 obese controls with normal blood pressure and 44 lean controls with normal blood pressure. Blood samples from all cases were collected at 8:00 a.m. after an overnight fast to determine the fasting plasma concentration of galanin, glucose, insulin, triglyceride, total cholesterol, high- and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that plasma galanin levels were significantly decreased in obese patients with hypertension compared with the obese control group, whereas the galanin levels were significantly increased in obese controls compared with lean controls. Furthermore, in both obese groups the galanin levels were negatively correlative to diastolic blood pressure and positively correlative to insulin and triglyceride levels, but not to heart rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low galanin levels were one of characters of obese patients with high blood pressure, and this levels may be taken as a novel biomarker to predict the development of high blood pressure in obese patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Hanlin College, Taizhou, 225300, China.|Department of Endocrinology, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China.|Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Prevention and Treatment of Senile Diseases, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Hanlin College, Taizhou, 225300, China.|Department of Endocrinology, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China.|Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Prevention and Treatment of Senile Diseases, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China. physiolpep@sina.cn.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China. boping@yzu.edu.cn.|Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Prevention and Treatment of Senile Diseases, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China. boping@yzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D019004:Galanin / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C056567:GAL protein, human; D019004:Galanin
keywords: Blood pressure; DBP; Galanin; Hypertension; Obesity