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Low levels of plasma galanin in obese subjects with hypertension

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Abstract

Background

Obesity is strongly linked to increased blood pressure, which increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. To our knowledge, little literature reported the information about galanin levels in obese individuals with hypertension. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the possible involvement of galanin in the pathogenesis of obese subjects with hypertension.

Methods

We measured body mass index and blood pressure of 38 obese patients with hypertension, 44 obese controls with normal blood pressure and 44 lean controls with normal blood pressure. Blood samples from all cases were collected at 8:00 a.m. after an overnight fast to determine the fasting plasma concentration of galanin, glucose, insulin, triglyceride, total cholesterol, high- and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Results

We found that plasma galanin levels were significantly decreased in obese patients with hypertension compared with the obese control group, whereas the galanin levels were significantly increased in obese controls compared with lean controls. Furthermore, in both obese groups the galanin levels were negatively correlative to diastolic blood pressure and positively correlative to insulin and triglyceride levels, but not to heart rate.

Conclusions

Low galanin levels were one of characters of obese patients with high blood pressure, and this levels may be taken as a novel biomarker to predict the development of high blood pressure in obese patients.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Science and Technology Program of Taizhou, China (Grant No. TS201512), the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China (Grant No. W201309), the Natural Scientific Fund of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (Grant No. 14KJB310012) and the Jiangsu Postgraduate Scientific Research and Innovation Projects (Grant No. KYLX15_1387).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Hanlin College, Taizhou, 225300, China

    P. Fang & M. Yu

  2. Department of Endocrinology, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China

    P. Fang, M. Yu, M. Shi, Y. Zhu, Z. Zhang & P. Bo

  3. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Prevention and Treatment of Senile Diseases, Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, China

    P. Fang, M. Shi & P. Bo

  4. Department of Pathology, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225001, Jiangsu, China

    X. Gu

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  1. P. Fang
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  2. M. Yu
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  4. M. Shi
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  5. Y. Zhu
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Correspondence to Z. Zhang or P. Bo.

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The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the studies of human were in accordance with the ethical standards of Ethics Committee of Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University. This article does not contain any study data with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individuals recruited in the study.

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Fang, P., Yu, M., Gu, X. et al. Low levels of plasma galanin in obese subjects with hypertension. J Endocrinol Invest 40, 63–68 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-016-0529-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-016-0529-2

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