Leptin, the obese-gene product, is an anorexigenic peptide secreted from adipose tissue, it is a 16-kilo dalton protein that is encoded by obese gene and secreted by adipocytes, leptin has diverse and complex metabolic effects. in the liver these effects may include a role in regulation offat deposition. fibrogenesis and inflammation (Shimizu et al., 1998). The aim of this work was to study serum leptin level in chronic liver diseases, including liver cirrhosis andfatty liver. The study was carried out on 40 subjects, they were divided into 3 groups: ten healthy subjects (control group), twenty five patients with liver cirrhosis (liver cirrhosis group), five patients with fatty liver (fatty liver group). For each subject
the following was done: full history and clinical examination, anthropometric measurements including height, weight, and B.M.I. Liver function tests, hepatitis markers, renal junction tests, urine and stool analysis. blood sugar, cholesterol and triglycerides, abdominal VIS and serum leptin level by EUSA method. Liver biopsy was done for patients only to confirm the diagnosis. The results showed that serum leptin was significantly higher in cirrhotic group andfatty liver group in relation to control and. correlated to B.M.I in control andfatty liver groups but did not in cirrhotic group. The results also showed that serum leptin was significantly correlated to Child s classification in liver cirrhosis group. The serum leptin was not significantly correlated to the viral aetiology ofliver Cirrhosis and also the cause of increased serum leptin in liver Cirrhosis remains to be determined byfurther studies. |
