Leptin, the obese- gene product, is an artorexigenic 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 : MI history and clinical examination, artthropometric
measurements including height, weight, and B.M.L Liver fi.utction
tests, hepatitis markers, renal function tests, urine and stool analysis,
blood sugar, cholesterol and triglycerides, 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 significantly correlated
to Childs 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. |
