Serum Adiponectin and Resistin Concentrations in Patients with Restrictive and Binge/Purge Form of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa

Abstract

To study the role of adipose tissue-derived hormones in the pathophysiology of eating disorders, circulating levels of adiponectin, resistin, and other hormonal and metabolic parameters were measured in 16 females with the restrictive subtype of anorexia nervosa (R-AN), 10 females with the binge/purge subtype of anorexia nervosa (P-AN), 15 females with bulimia nervosa (BN), and 12 age-matched healthy females (C). Body mass index (BMI), body fat content, and serum leptin levels were severely decreased in R-AN and moderately decreased in P-AN patients, whereas the BN group did not differ from C in these parameters. Serum soluble leptin receptor levels were increased in R-AN and P-AN and unchanged in BN patients. Circulating adiponectin levels were inversely related to BMI and were unchanged in BN patients and increased by 53% in P-AN and by 96% in R-AN relative to C group, respectively. In contrast, resistin levels in malnourished R-AN and P-AN were not different from either C or BN groups and showed no significant relationship to BMI or body fat content. We suggest that increased adiponectin levels reflect decreased body fat content in AN patients. In contrast, circulating resistin levels do not appear to be closely related to the nutritional status.

Specific adipocytokines profiles in patients with hyperactive and/or binge/purge form of anorexia nervosa

“…The subgroup of BP-AN patients showed significantly higher adiponectin levels compared with R-AN patients. These results are not in agreement with the study of Housova et al (2005), which did not observe any difference between R-AN and BP-AN forms. Other studies showed an increase in serum adiponectin levels in AN but did not deal with AN subtypes Pannacciulli et al, 2003).…”

“…Although the serum leptin levels of the H-AN patients are low compared with the control subjects, the relative increase of these hormone levels in this H-AN group compared with the NH-AN patients could contribute to the worse outcome observed in H-AN patients. This is the first study showing a decrease of serum resistin levels in H-AN patients compared with NH-AN patients, despite the fact that we found no difference in serum resistin values in the whole AN group compared with healthy control women, as seen in other studies (Housova et al, 2005). The H-AN patients tend to be more insulin sensitive than the NH-AN patients.…”

“…The physiological relevance of the plasma adiponectin increase in AN remains unclear and is still debated. The hyperadiponectinemia could contribute to etiopathogenic factor of AN (Housova et al, 2005), or on this background of AN with lower plasma insulin levels, could represent a compensatory mechanism for the increase of insulin sensitivity (Monteleone et al, 2008). Indeed, a negative correlation has been found between plasma adiponectin and insulin levels in AN (Dostalova et al, 2007).…”

Role of genetic variants in ADIPOQ in human eating behavior

“…In particular, many studies demonstrated elevated adiponectin serum levels in female patients affected with anorexia nervosa (ModanMoses et al 2007;Pannacciulli et al 2003;Terra et al 2013), while binge eating disorder was related to decreased circulating adiponectin (Monteleone et al 2003;Carnier et al 2012). It is worth noting that inconsistent data exist for patients suffering from bulimia nervosa (Housova et al 2005;Tagami et al 2004;Monteleone et al 2003). Taken together, besides its well-known effects in terms of obesity, type 2 diabetes and related metabolic conditions adiponectin seems to be involved in food intake and energy expenditure as well as in the pathophysiology of eating disorders.…”

EDdb: A web resource for eating disorder and its application to identify an extended adipocytokine signaling pathway related to eating disorder

“…Although leptin and adiponectin in the adipocytokine signaling pathway are related to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa [45,46], other downstream signaling circuits have not been reported to be related to eating disorder. Based on our gene collection, most of the genes in the adipocytokine signaling pathway are related to eating disorder ( Figure 3).…”