Correlation of leptin and sex hormones with endocrine changes in healthy Saudi women of different body weights

Abstract

BACKGROUNDA relationship between estrogen and leptin has been described during the follicular phase of both spontaneous menstrual cycles and cycles stimulated with exogenous follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which suggest that leptin has either a direct effect on or is regulated by gonadal steroids in the human ovary. To examine the changes in plasma leptin levels during the menstrual cycle, we studied the association between plasma leptin and reproductive hormones in young, healthy Saudi women.SUBJECTS AND METHODSSixty-five young women between 19 to 39 years of age, with a normal menstrual cycle, were grouped into 33 overweight and obese females of BMI >25 kg/m2, and 32 lean females of BMI <25 kg/m2. Anthropometrics measurements were made at the time of the collection. Samples were analyzed for leptin, progesterone, estradiol (E2), FSH, luteinizing hormone (LH), cortisol, and testosterone concentrations.RESULTSOverweight and obese women, compared with lean, tended to have a significantly higher plasma leptin levels (11.38± 4.06 vs. 6.22± 2.87 ng/mL; P=0.05). In overweight and obese subjects, circulating leptin concentrations showed a direct correlation with BMI (r=0.53; P=0.002), hip circumference (r=0.32; P=0.005), waist-hip ratio (r=0.37; P=0.042), weight (r=0.41; P=0.021), and E2 on day 3 (r=0.35; P=0.048). In all correlation analyses, leptin levels did not correlate with cortisol or testosterone. In lean subjects, a bivariate correlation analysis showed that plasma leptin concentrations were directly correlated to hip circumference (r=0.43; P=0.012). Moreover, a direct correlation was found with progesterone on day 10 (r=0.43; P=0.014) and E2 on day 24 (r=0.47; P=0.007).CONCLUSIONThere is a link between plasma leptin and progesterone concentrations during the menstrual cycle, and the variation in circulating estradiol concentrations may have an influence on circulating leptin in female subjects.

The levels of adipokines in relation to hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle in young, normal-weight women

“…It should be emphasized that midcycle serum LH concentrations were proportional to the circulating leptin levels, corroborating the role of leptin in the regulation of reproductive function ( 7 ). Moreover, plasma leptin levels were not associated with either estradiol or progesterone concentrations, which is in line with the results of some ( 13 ), but not other studies ( 14 ). However, the results of multivariate analysis revealed that changes in leptin levels between follicular and luteal phase are associated with the changes of total testosterone and 17-OH progesterone levels as well as HOMA-IR values.…”

“…For example, the higher circulating leptin level was found during the luteal phase by some researchers ( 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ); however, Cappobianco and coworkers ( 12 ) did not observe any changes in leptin levels during the menstrual cycle in both ovulatory and anovulatory women. Additionally, in some ( 13 ), but not in other studies ( 14 ), the association between changes in plasma leptin levels and variations of both estradiol and progesterone release were observed during the menstrual cycle. Similarly, the results of studies which assessed changes in resistin and adiponectin levels during the physiological menstrual cycle are ambiguous.…”

Fluctuation of Serum Leptin Through Menstrual Cycle in Young Fertile Women in Mosul City

“…The serum leptin level in the 2 nd day of the cycle (follicular phase) was lower than it in the 21-23days (luteal phase )of the menstrual cycle , this difference was statistically significant (p< 0.0001) , so this study demonstrated for the first time in our locality that healthy women in mosul city with normal weight having significantly higher serum leptin level during luteal in contrast to the follicular phase. This result is in agreement with a number of other studies 15,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24 had shown considerable variation in serum leptin levels throughout the menstrual cycles with higher levels in the luteal rather than follicular phase .…”

Variation of Leptin During Menstrual Cycle and Its Relation to the Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Gonadal (HPG) Axis: A Systematic Review

“…Of the included studies, 18 have shown significant changes in leptin level across different phases of the menstrual cycle [16][17][18][19][20]23,24,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]41,43 (Table 1), while four studies reported no changes in leptin throughout the menstrual cycle 27,28,42,44 (Table 2). Most of the studies reported significant changes in leptin and showed a steady increment from the lowest level at the early follicular phase to its peak at late luteal phase-except two studies, where leptin peak was detected at the mid-cycle phase near the time of LH surge.…”

“…The relationship of leptin during menstrual cycle with at least one of the hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis was evaluated by 17 studies, [17][18][19][20]23,24,27,31,[33][34][35][36][37][38][39]42,44 as seen in Tables 1-2.…”