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 of fat 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 and fatty 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 function tests, urine and stool analysis, blood sugar, cholesterol and triglycerkles, abdominal U/S and serum leptin level by ELISA method. Liver biopsy was done for patients only to confirm
the diagnosis. The results showed that serum leptin was significantly higher in cirrhotic group and fatty liver group in relation to control and correlated to B.M.I in control and fatty liver groups but did not in cirrhotic
group. The results also showed that serum leptin was signcantly comekited to Child s classification in liver cirrhosis group. The serum leptin was not significantly correlated to the viral aetiology of liver cirrhosis and
also the cause of increased serum leptin in liver cirrhosis remains to be determined by further studies. |
