Endocrine Abstracts

Leptin, 16 kDa polypeptide hormone is produced primarily, although not exclusively, by adipocytes. It has been proposed to play a role in neonatal growth and development. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of chronic leptin administration on the growth performance and endocrine profile of neonatal pigs. Ten Meishan sows gave birth naturally at term and siblings were paired by birth weight and gender. Piglets were subsequently randomly allocated to either ...

Ghrelin, a circulating gastric hormone, stimulates food intake in rodents and humans and hyperphagia, weight gain and adiposity on chronic administration in rodents. Here we investigated the effect of chronic subcutaneous ghrelin on fat volume and distribution using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Male Wistar rats were implanted with subcutaneous osmotic mini-pumps delivering saline (S, n=10) or ghrelin 30nmol/24hours (n=18). In order to investigate the hyperphagia-independe...

Altered adipokine levels may explain the link between obesity and insulin resistance. One potential candidate is retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) which is elevated in type 2 diabetes and correlates with the magnitude of insulin resistance. Low adiponectin levels are also associated with insulin resistance. Adiponectin circulates in multimeric complexes and multimer distribution may also be important.We measured RBP4 and adiponectin multimers in 24 obese ...