Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2015) 37 GP12.01 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.37.GP.12.01

ECE2015 Guided Posters Diabetes and obesity – Translational diabetes (7 abstracts)

Comparison of umbilical cord ghrelin concentrations in full-term pregnant women with or without gestational diabetes

Murat Karakulak 1 , Muzaffer Temur 2 , Özgür Yilmaz 2 , Ugur Saygili 3 , Elif Pelin Özün Özbay 4 , Mehmet Calan 5 & Hese Cosar 6


1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Silivri State Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Manisa Merkezefendi Hospital, Manisa, Turkey; 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dokuzeylul University Medical School, Izmir, Turkey; 4Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aydin Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, Aydin, Turkey; 5Department of Endocrinology, Bozyaka Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey; 6Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Manisa Merkezefendi Hospital, Manisa, Turkey.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyse ghrelin concentrations in the umbilical cord of pregnant women with a diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus. The relationship between ghrelin concentrations and birth weights was investigated.

Methods: Sixty pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus and 64 healthy pregnant women with three oral glucose tolerance test results within normal limits were included in the study. Following birth but before extraction of the placenta, 10-ml blood samples were drawn from the umbilical vein in both groups. Ghrelin concentrations were measured.

Results: The mean birth weights of the babies born to mothers with GDM were higher than those in the control group (P=0.04). The cord blood ghrelin levels in pregnant women with GDM were significantly lower than those of the healthy women in the control group (879.6 pg/ml vs 972.2 pg/ml; P=0.03). The umbilical cord blood ghrelin concentrations in pregnant women with GDM undergoing insulin therapy were significantly lower than those of the control group (792.61 pg/dl vs 972.2 pg/dl; P=0.01). Inverse correlations were detected between umbilical cord blood ghrelin levels and birth weights of the babies both in the group with GDM patients (r: −0.785; P=0.001) and in the control group (r: −0.749; P=0.001).

Conclusions: In pregnant women with GDM, umbilical cord ghrelin concentrations are closely related to the birth weights of the babies. Ghrelin presumably may be among the factors influencing foetal development potentially with its GH stimulating effects or by means of other mechanisms.

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