Division of Pediatrics, Department of Medical Sciences, Ospedale Maggiore della Carità, University of Piemonte Orientale, V. Solaroli 17, 28100 Novara, Italy.
Eur J Endocrinol. 2012 Jan;166(1):115-20. doi: 10.1530/EJE-11-0346. Epub 2011 Oct 17.
Ghrelin is a peptide with multiple functions that circulates in acylated (AG) and unacylated (UAG) forms. However, the role of ghrelin in neonates (NN) remains to be clarified.
The aim of this study was to determine ghrelin concentrations of the two forms in NN to clarify their biological roles. As such, ghrelin levels at birth were compared with those in later life.
Tertiary Care Center. In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated AG, UAG, AG/UAG ratio, and insulin levels in venous cord blood from NN and in fasted normal weight (NW) and obese (OB) children, both prepubertal and pubertal.
We studied 82 NN, 82 NW, and 58 OB children.
AG levels were lower in NN than in NW and OB children (P<0.0001), more specifically the prepubertal NW and OB children (P<0.0001). UAG levels were higher in NN than in NW and OB children (P<0.0001). Therefore, the AG/UAG ratio was lower in NN than in NW and OB children (P<0.0001). NN showed insulin levels similar to NW and lower than OB children (P<0.0001). At birth UAG was positively correlated with AG (Pearson: 0.425; P<0.0001) and negatively with insulin (-0.253; P<0.02). In NW and OB, UAG and AG were positively correlated to each other and negatively correlated with insulin and body mass index (-0.566; P<0.0001).
NN compared with children, showed higher UAG and lower AG levels. The AG/UAG ratio showed a very different profile in NN, being lower than in NW and OB children, thus suggesting a different metabolic function for the two forms in NN. Further studies are needed to clarify the exact role of the different ghrelin forms in NN.
Ghrelin 是一种具有多种功能的肽，以酰化（AG）和非酰化（UAG）两种形式循环。然而，ghrelin 在新生儿（NN）中的作用仍有待阐明。
本研究旨在确定 NN 中两种形式的 ghrelin 浓度，以阐明其生物学作用。因此，我们比较了出生时和以后的 ghrelin 水平。
三级保健中心。在这项横断面研究中，我们评估了 NN 静脉脐带血中的 AG、UAG、AG/UAG 比值和胰岛素水平，以及正常体重（NW）和肥胖（OB）儿童的空腹血糖，包括青春期前和青春期后。
我们研究了 82 名 NN、82 名 NW 和 58 名 OB 儿童。
与 NW 和 OB 儿童相比，NN 中的 AG 水平较低（P<0.0001），尤其是青春期前的 NW 和 OB 儿童（P<0.0001）。NN 中的 UAG 水平高于 NW 和 OB 儿童（P<0.0001）。因此，NN 中的 AG/UAG 比值低于 NW 和 OB 儿童（P<0.0001）。NN 组的胰岛素水平与 NW 相似，低于 OB 儿童（P<0.0001）。出生时，UAG 与 AG 呈正相关（Pearson：0.425；P<0.0001），与胰岛素呈负相关（-0.253；P<0.02）。在 NW 和 OB 中，UAG 和 AG 彼此呈正相关，与胰岛素和体重指数呈负相关（-0.566；P<0.0001）。
与儿童相比，NN 表现出更高的 UAG 和更低的 AG 水平。AG/UAG 比值在 NN 中呈现出非常不同的特征，低于 NW 和 OB 儿童，这表明两种形式在 NN 中的代谢功能不同。需要进一步的研究来阐明不同形式的 ghrelin 在 NN 中的确切作用。
