Study of Fasting Plasma Ghrelin Hormone in Obese Non Diabetic and Obese Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Introduction: Obesity is a multifactorial syndrome characterized by an excessive adipose tissue accumulation. The aim of our work was to study the possible role of ghrelin hormone in the pathogenesis of obesity in obese non diabetic and obese type 2 diabetic patients. Subjects and Methods: The study was conducted on 45 adult subjects. The studied subjects were subdivided into three groups: Group I includes 15 obese type 2 diabetic patients, Group II includes 15 simple obese non diabetic patients and Group III includes 15 normal subjects with normal BMI as a control group. All subjects were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination, routine investigations, fasting blood glucose, HbAlc, fasting insulin, insulin resistance estimated by HOMA- IR and fasting plasma ghrelin. Results: There was a significant decrease regarding fasting plasma ghrelin hormone in obese (either type 2 diabetic or non diabetic) than the control group p 0.05. However, ghrelin hormone was more decreased in obese type 2 diabetic than obese non diabetic. There was negative correlation between fasting plasma ghrelin hormone and both of fasting insulin hormone, fasting blood glucose and insulin resistance estimated by HOMA-IR. Also, there was negative correlation between fasting plasma ghrelin hormone and BMI, weight, waist circumference and waist hip ratio. Conclusion: Fasting plasma ghrelin was decreased in obese subjects and seemed to be a down- regulation in human obesity and this may be a consequence of elevated insulin.