Endocrine Abstracts

Apelin is a new adipokine associated with obesity. Data about the relationship of apelin to the metabolic syndrome (MS) are still scarce. Late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) is common in men with MS, but we did not find data about the levels of apelin in men with LOH.

The aim of this study was to determine the levels of apelin in men with MS with or without LOH.

Patients and methods: Ninety nine men were included in the study. Of them 65 had MS (IDF 2005) and they were devided according to their morning total testosterone (TT) level (cutoff 10.4 nmol/l) into two groups: MS-LOH (n=21) and MS-NoLOH (n=44). The control group consisted of 34 men without MS and LOH. Apelin was determined in serum using enzymelinked immunosorbent assay.

Results: MS men were at mean age (±S.D.)=50.4±9.6 years; BMI=33.3±7.7 kg/m²; waist circumference (WC)=111.7±13.9 cm and TT=13.6±5.4 nmol/l. The control group was at age=51.5±6.4 years (NS); BMI=25.7±2.4 kg/m² (P<0.001); WC=89.8±8.2 cm (P<0.001) and TT=17.9±5.6 nmol/l (P<0.001). MS-LOH sub-group had age 47.9±10.5 years; BMI=36.4±9.5 kg/m²; WC=114.6±16.7 cm; TT=8.1±1.5 nmol/l and MS-NoLOH sub-group – age 51.6±9.1 years (NS); BMI=31.8±6.3 kg/m² (P<0.05); WC=110.4±12.5 cm (NS); TT=16.3±4.5 nmol/l (P<0.001). The levels of apelin were higher in the MS group – 1.61±0.53 ng/ml compared to the control one – 1.38±0.57 ng/ml (P<0.05). There was no difference between MS-LOH – 1.53±0.52 ng/ml and MS-NoLOH – 1.65±0.53 ng/ml sub-groups. The MS-NoLOH differed from the control group (P<0.05).

Conclusions: In this study higher apelin levels were found in the presence of MS compared to healthy men, but did not differ between men having MS with or without LOH.