Resistin and leptin in breast milk and infants in early life

• Published in: Early human development Vol. 88; no. 10; pp. 779 - 782
• Main Authors: Savino, Francesco, Sorrenti, Miriam, Benetti, Stefania, Lupica, Maria Maddalena, Liguori, Stefania Alfonsina, Oggero, Roberto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.10.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Advanced Basic Science; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Breast milk; Embryology: invertebrates and vertebrates. Teratology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Infant; Infant Formula - chemistry; Infant, Newborn - blood; Infants; Leptin; Leptin - analysis; Leptin - blood; Milk; Milk, Human - chemistry; Neonatal and Perinatal Medicine; Resistin; Resistin - analysis; Resistin - blood; Infants; Leptin; Resistin; Breast milk; Human; Infant; Early
• ISSN: 0378-3782; 1872-6232; 1872-6232
• DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2012.05.004

The role of adipokines in early life is considered an emerging topic issue in nutritional researches. To evaluate serum resistin and leptin concentrations and their relations in infants and in breast milk. We enrolled 41 term, AGA, healthy infants, of which 23 exclusively breast-fed (BF) and 18 formula-fed (FF), aged less than 6months. Breast milk (BM) samples were collected from 23 breastfeeding mothers of the infants enrolled. Resistin concentration in serum and BM was determined by ELISA test (Human-Resistin-ELISA, Mediagnost, Reutlingen, Germany). Leptin concentration was determined by Radioimmunoassay method (LEP-R40, Mediagnost, Reutlingen, Germany). Infants weight, length and body mass index were measured. We used Mann–Whitney test. Spearman correlation was applied. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Data are reported as median and interquartile range (IR). Infants serum resistin concentration was 9.30 (5.02) ng/ml. Breast milk resistin concentration (n=23) was 0.18 (0.44) ng/ml. Leptin concentration was 3.04 (3.68) ng/ml in infants serum and in BM was 2.34 (5.73) ng/ml. Serum resistin concentrations in BF infants correlated positively with BM resistin (r=0.636, p=0.035). We have shown a positive correlation between resistin and leptin in total group of infants (r=0.44, p=0.05), confirmed in breastfed subjects (r=0.65, p=0.02). No correlations were found between serum hormones and anthropometric parameters of infants. Our findings show interestingly a positive correlation between resistin concentrations in BF infants serum and in BM and between resistin and leptin in infants.