Positive correlation of galanin with insulin resistance and triglyceride levels in obese children

Abstract

Background/aim: Galanin is a neuropeptide that is shown to be involved in the regulation of food intake and glucose homeostasis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relation of serum galanin levels with anthropometric and metabolic parameters in obese and healthy children. Material and methods: The cross-sectional study consisted of 38 obese children (mean age: 11.9 ± 3.0 years) and 30 healthy children (mean age: 11.4 ± 2.0 years). Clinical and biochemical parameters [glucose, insulin, homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), lipids, galanin, and leptin levels] were assessed. Results: Serum galanin and leptin levels were significantly higher in obese children. In obese children, galanin levels were positively correlated with fasting glucose (r = 0.398, p = 0.013), insulin (r = 0.383, p = 0.018), HOMA-IR (r = 0.375, p = 0.020), and triglycerides (r = 0.391, p=0.015). Multivariate backward regression analysis revealed that galanin levels were significantly associated with fasting glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, and triglyceride, which explained 42.0% of the variance (r2 = 0.483, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Serum galanin levels were significantly higher in obese children than healthy controls and positively correlated with insulin resistance and triglycerides in obese children. This study suggests that galanin is associated with glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism in childhood obesity.

Adipokines in patients with hypertensive disease with obesity in the dynamics of combined antihypertensive therapy

“…The maximum concentration of Galanin in patients with obesity of degree 3 may indicate that the GalR1 level at a given degree of obesity is insufficient to inactivate GAL. The results obtained for the presence of significantly higher GAL values in the main group and a close connection of this indicator with VLDL cholesterol are consistent with the known literature data on high plasma GAL concentration in women with moderate / severe obesity (Leibowitz, 1998;Baranowska et al, 2000), in patients with abdominal obesity, metabolic syndrome (MS), type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM 2), gestational diabetes mellitus (Fang et al, 2013), as well as in obese children (Acar et al, 2018). Moreover, in obese children, serum GAL levels positively correlate with triglycerides and insulin resistance.…”

Galanin and glypican-4 levels depending on metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome

“…Acar and cols. ( 25 ) reported that galanin levels were positively correlated with insulin resistance and triglycerides, also in obese children. Interestingly, physical activity is an effective stimulus to enhance galanin secretion ( 26 ).…”

Primary cilia, A‐kinase anchoring proteins and constitutive activity at the orphan G protein‐coupled receptor GPR161: A tale about a tail

“…The receptors are also differentiated by G protein‐coupling preferences—GAL 1 and GAL 3 receptors signal via Gα i , while GAL 2 receptors signal via Gα q/11 in mammals (Cohen et al, 2020; Kim et al, 2014; Marcos & Coveñas, 2021). Both galanin and spexin‐1 are involved in similar physiological processes and have overlapping expression patterns (Webling et al, 2012); however, their actions appear to oppose one another with galanin acting as an orexigenic factor (Acar et al, 2018; Fang et al, 2013), while spexin‐1 may be anorexigenic (Gu et al, 2015; Kołodziejski et al, 2018).…”