Relationship Between Endothelium-dependent Vasodilatation In Abdominally Obese Patients And Serum Leptin

Objective To study the relationship between endothelium-dependent vasodilatation dysfunction in abdominally obese patients and serum leptin.Methods The patients were matched into abdominally obese group and control group according to age and sex. The concentration of leptin was assayed by radioimraunoassay. The endothelium-dependent vasodilatation was also measured by high-resolution ultrasound in the two groups.Results (l)The brachial flow-mediated vasodilatation in abdominally obese group was much lower compared with that in control group[(6. 71 ± 3. 60)% vs (13. 81 ?. 71)%, p<0. 01]. However, there was no significant difference in response to nitroglycerin between the two groups [ (19. 71 ± 6. 63)% vs (18. 60 ± 6.35)% , p>0. 05].(2)The concentration of serum leptin in abdominally obese group was much higher than that in control group [the obese male vs the control male is (8.63±3.73)ng/ml vs (3. 05±1. 56)ng/ml, p<0. 01; the obese female vs the control female is (16. 73?. 93)ng/ml vs (7. 93±3. 66)ng/ml, p<0. 01]. (3)The brachial flow-mediated vasodilatation was negatively correlated with the concentration of leptin according to Pearson correlation analysis.Conclusion The endothelium-dependent vasodilatation dysfunction in abdominally obese patients is negatively correlated with the increase of the concentration of serum leptin. Leptin might play a role in the process of atherosclerosis.