International Journal of Women's Health (Sep 2022)

Variations of Ghrelin and Obestatin Hormones During the Menstrual Cycle of Women of Different BMIs

  • Salem AM,
  • Latif R,
  • Rafique N,
  • Aldawlan MI,
  • Almulla LB,
  • Alghirash DY,
  • Fallatah OA,
  • Alotaibi FM,
  • Aljabbari FH,
  • Yar T

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 1297 – 1305

Abstract

Read online

Ayad Mohammed Salem,1 Rabia Latif,1 Nazish Rafique,1 Mubarak I Aldawlan,2 Layan B Almulla,2 Duaa Y Alghirash,2 Ola A Fallatah,2 Faleh M Alotaibi,2 Fahad H Aljabbari,2 Talay Yar1 1Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 2College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Ayad Mohammed Salem, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, PO Box 2114-31451, Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Email [email protected]: The cyclical changes of hormones during the menstrual cycle are responsible not only for reproductive function but also have other effects on dietary intake and appetite. The current study aimed to investigate the variations of appetite-related hormones (ghrelin and obestatin) during the menstrual cycle and their association with adipokines, estrogen, and BMI.Methods: Fifty-six regularly menstruating female students were grouped into normal weight (BMI ≤ 24.9; n = 26), and overweight/obese subjects (BMI ≥ 25; n = 30). Serum ghrelin, obestatin, leptin, adiponectin, and estrogen levels were measured during the early follicular, preovulatory, and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle using the ELISA technique.Results: There were insignificant differences in the levels of serum ghrelin, obestatin, and ghrelin/obestatin ratio across menstrual cycle phases in the whole cohort as well as in each group separately (p > 0.05). Serum ghrelin was significantly less in OW-OB as compared to the NW group (p = 0.005), whereas the average serum obestatin did not show any significant differences between the two groups. No significant correlation was seen between ghrelin and obestatin with the adipokines and estradiol.Conclusion: Significant low level of ghrelin was observed in obese group during the follicular phase. This finding may provide new insights into the altered ghrelin patterns in OW-OB individuals, as a cause or a consequence of obesity and related menstrual disorders.Keywords: ghrelin, obestatin, adipokines, menstrual cycle, obesity

Keywords