High basal serum allopregnanolone levels in overweight girls

Abstract

Objective: Several studies demonstrated that obese subjects have a hyperactive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and that sex steroid hormones have been closely related to the regulation of adiposity, either through direct or indirect physiological mechanisms. Allopregnanolone (3a-hydroxy-5a-pregn-20-one; AP) is a circulating neuroactive steroid hormone involved in the modulation of behavioral functions, stress and neuroendocrine axis. The aim of our study was to evaluate basal serum AP levels in obese children. Subjects and measurements: We studied 27 normal weight (NW) and 23 overweight (OW) girls. Gonadotropins and steroid hormones were assessed in all patients. Results: Basal AP concentrations in OW girls were significantly higher than in NW controls (P ¼ 0.013). There was no difference found between the other gonadal and adrenal hormones. Considering the pubertal stage, we demonstrated that obese pubertal girls presented higher AP concentrations than prepubertal and pubertal NW ones (P ¼ 0.020), and higher dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) levels with respect to prepubertal obese girls, and prepubertal and pubertal NW patients (P ¼ 0.025). AP and DHEAS were significantly directly related to weight (r ¼ 0.31 and r ¼ 0.54, respectively) and body mass index (r ¼ 0.29 and r ¼ 0.34, respectively). In pubertal OW girls, a significant positive correlation between AP and DHEAS (r ¼ 0.60), A (r ¼ 0.72) and luteinizing hormone (r ¼ 0.64) levels was demonstrated. Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that AP is hypersecreted in children and adolescent with OW involving DHEAS concentrations, too. Our data suggest a possible role of AP in the regulation of neuroendocrine axis related to obesity. We can also speculate that in OW girls, who could manifest emotional and behavioral problems, a part of higher levels of this neuroactive steroid might act as g-aminobutyric acid agonist producing anxiolytic-sedative effects.

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome have elevated serum concentrations of and altered GABAA receptor sensitivity to allopregnanolone

“…In our study, the PCOS patients had higher allopregnanolone concentrations than both of the control groups. This supports earlier studies that have shown that overweight women have higher baseline allopregnanolone concentrations than normal‐weight women . Other studies have shown that healthy overweight women also have higher allopregnanolone concentrations than normal‐weight healthy controls, although the difference was not significant in our study.…”

“…8 The serum concentrations of allopregnanolone are higher in obese individuals (both men and women) than in normal-weight controls. [9][10][11] However, the treatment of women with PCOS with metformin reduces their allopregnanolone concentrations. 5 Chronic anovulation is very common in PCOS.…”

“…Therefore, allopregnanolone may induce obesity in PCOS women . The serum concentrations of allopregnanolone are higher in obese individuals (both men and women) than in normal‐weight controls . However, the treatment of women with PCOS with metformin reduces their allopregnanolone concentrations .…”

Birth asphyxia and its associated factors among newborns in public hospital, northeast Amhara, Ethiopia

“…In this study, the prevalence of birth asphyxia was 22.6% in the 1 st minute of birth. This finding is lower compared to a study conducted in Debre Tabor Hospital, Ethiopia (29.9%) [34], Nigeria (30.1%) [11] and a study conducted in Zambia (23%) [9]. In addition, this finding is lower than a review study conducted in Federal Medical Centre, Birnin Kebbi, Nigeria (24.7%) [10].…”

Circulating Levels of Allopregnanolone, a Neuroactive Steroid, and Leptin during Treatment with Valproic Acid in Children with Epilepsy

“…In fact, it is well known that obese children are unhappy with their weight and experience more psychosocial distress [36,37]. Unfortunately, we did not evaluate the anxiety levels in our patients; therefore, this hypothesis needs to be confirmed in future studies.…”