Serum Leptin and Ghrelin Levels in Premenopausal Women with Stable Body Mass Index during Treatment of Thyroid Dysfunction

Abstract

In premenopausal women with hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, treatment of thyroid dysfunction that is not associated with changes in BMI or %BF does not influence serum leptin but does affect serum ghrelin. Thyroid status itself, in the absence of alterations in the BMI and %BF, has an important influence on circulating ghrelin but not leptin.

Ghrelin Gene Products and the Regulation of Food Intake and Gut Motility

“…Hypothyroidism resulted in an increase in gastric ghrelin mRNA and circulating plasma total ghrelin levels, both being decreased in hyperthyroid rats (Caminos et al, 2002). Reduced serum acyl ghrelin levels were observed in patients with hyperthyroidism (Riis et al, 2003;Röjdmark et al, 2005;Altinova et al, 2006aAltinova et al, , 2006bBraclik et al, 2008) but not in subclinical hyperthyroidism (Tanda et al, 2009). Ghrelin levels were decreased in hyperthyroidism and increased when euthyroidism was achieved after treatment with antithyroid drugs (Röjdmark et al, 2005;Tanda et al, 2009;Theodoropoulou et al, 2009).…”

“…Serum ghrelin levels are increased in patients who are hypothyroid (Braclik et al, 2008;Gjedde et al, 2008) and become normalized by L-thyroxine treatment (Gjedde et al, 2008).…”

Thyroid Disorders and Diabetes Mellitus

“…Ghrelin levels are lower in obese subjects and those with type 2 diabetes, states associated with hyperinsulinemia [71]. Reduced ghrelin levels were observed in hyperthyroid patients [72, 73], and these levels rose to normal values after pharmacological treatment of hyperthyroidism [74–76]. Hyperthyroidism, being a state of negative energy balance should result in an increase in ghrelin levels.…”

“…Hyperthyroidism is associated with insulin resistance [77] and hyperinsulinemia suppresses ghrelin levels [78]. Increased levels of ghrelin has been observed in hypothyroid patients, and these levels normalized with L-thyroxine treatment [74, 79]. …”

The regulation of circulating ghrelin — with recent updates from cell-based assays [Review]

“…Circulating ghrelin levels are reduced in hyperthyroid patients [157,[207][208][209][210][211]. On the other hand, ghrelin levels were elevated in hypothyroid patients in some reports [212,213], but not in others [207,211,214].…”