Plasma Asprosin Level And Its Correlation With Clinical Symptoms In Patients With Drug-naive Eating Disorders

ObjectiveEating disorders are characterized by abnormal feeding behavior and psychological disturbances,and are accompanied by abnormal secretion of appetite-regulating hormones,which mainly include anorexia nervosa(AN)and bulimia nervosa(BN).Asprosin is an appetite-promoting hormone and also promotes glucose production in the liver.This study used asprosin as an entry point,aiming to clarify the levels of AN and BN asprosin,and to explore the relationship between asprosin levels,glucose levels and clinical symptoms in patients with AN and BN.MethodsThe study is divided into two parts according to the different disease characteristics of recruited patients.In the first part,46 patients with drug-naive AN were recruited,including 28 patients with restricting subtype,18 patients with binge/purge subtype,and 47 healthy controls of AN(HC-AN)matched with age and education years.The second part recruited 26 patients with drug-naive BN and 23 healthy controls of BN(HC-BN).The study used a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique to determine the concentration of plasma asprosin;glucose concentration was detected by glucose oxidase method.Eating Disorder Inventory-2(EDI-2),Beck Depression Inventory,and Beck Anxiety Inventory were used to assess eating disorder symptoms and related psychological characteristic,depression and anxiety levels in AN and HC-AN.BN and HC-BN were evaluated using EDI-2,Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire 6.0(EDE-Q 6.0),Barrett Impulsiveness Scale,Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory.Results(1)The concentration of plasma asprosin in patients with AN was significantly higher than that in HC-AN(2514.8±1957.2 pg/mL vs 1947.0±2143.8 pg/mL,P=0.033);and there was no significant difference in plasma glucose concentration between the two groups(P=0.178).There were no significant differences in plasma asprosin concentration(P=0.509)and glucose concentration(P=0.703)between the AN-restricting subtype and ANbinge/purge subtype.In AN patients,plasma asprosin levels correlated negatively with duration of illness(r=-0.310,P=0.036)and positively with EDI-2 interoceptive awareness subscale score(r=0.320,P=0.030).Multiple linear regression analyses showed that increases in asprosin levels(P=0.029),glucose levels(P=0.024)and body mass index(P=0.003)were associated with an increase of the score of EDI-2 bulimia subscale.(2)The concentration of plasma asprosin in patients with BN was higher than that in HC-BN(2486.7±1664.8 pg/mL vs 1501.5±1534.9 pg/mL,P=0.033);and there was no significant difference after controlling body mass index(F=2.685,P=0.108).In the BN group and the HC-BN group,there was no significant difference in plasma glucose levels before(P=0.705)and after(P=0.271)control of body mass index.In BN patients,asprosin was positively correlated with the times of overeating(r=0.451,P=0.021)and lost control over eating(r=0.483,P=0.012),and positively correlated with the score of EDI-2 Interpersonal distrust subscale(r=0.397,P=0.045).Plasma asprosin levels in BN patients with high non-planning Impulsiveness were significantly higher than those in BN patients with low non-planning Impulsiveness.Conclusions(1)There is abnormal plasma asproisn concentration in patients with drug-naive AN.(2)The concentration of white asproisn can affect the frequency of binge eating in patients with BN,and BN patients with high non-planning Impulsiveness have higher asprosin concentration.