Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Data are conflicting on whether and how serum adipokines alter following acute dietary intake. Here, we used the specific challenge of standard 75 g glucose tolerance tests (GTT) to assess timed changes in TNF-α, IL-6, leptin and adiponectin in healthy younger women and how these would be affected by adiposity.

Methods: Consenting participants in the Manchester Mothers’ Heart and Vascular health study had serum adipokines measured at fasting, 30 and 120 min of a GTT. Standardised anthropometry, blood pressure and blood biochemistry were measured and results analysed by body mass index (BMI) tertiles and insulin resistance (‘HOMA-IR’) status as insulin sensitive (IS) or more resistant (IR) groups.

Results: In 115 women, there was no change during GTT in serum TNF-α and IL-6. Serum leptin declined significantly by 10–18% (P<0.05) at 30 min in all groups and fell further for women in the highest BMI tertile by 120 min. In the 1st thinnest tertile and IS groups, serum adiponectin increased slightly at 120 min (4.0–4.5 mg/l, P<0.05). On multiple regression analysis, BMI displaced IR status as a strong independent predictor of change in serum leptin from 0 to 30 min and adiponectin from 0 to 120 min.

Conclusions: In younger age groups serum leptin concentrations fell and adiponectin rose in slimmer women, so that adiposity was the major determinant of changes in both adipokines, but TNF-α and IL-6 did not alter following glucose challenge.