The level of leptin in blood among patients with infective diarrhea

Introduction: Infective diarrhoea is a disease which is characterized by the presence of frequent, watery stools caused by an infective agent. Leptin belongs to the family of class I helical cytokines. It is secreted mainly by adipocytes. Increased amounts of adipose tissue result in increased secretion of leptin, which inhibits the satiety centres. The level of leptin increases after a meal and decreases a few hours later. Leptin production is stimulated by some cytokines and also leptin acts on immunological system cells.
Aim: To compare the level of leptin in the blood of patients with infective diarrhoea at the beginning of symptoms and after recovery, 8 weeks later and to correlate the level of leptin in the blood with biochemical parameters measured in the blood.
Material and methods: A prospective study was done with 30 patients. Blood morphology, C-reactive protein and the level of leptin in the blood using the ELISA method were performed in all patients at the beginning of symptoms and after recovery, 8 weeks later.
Results: We observed differences between the leptin level in the blood at the beginning of the infective diarrhoea and after recovery, 8 weeks later, but they were not statistically significant. We observed among patients with infective diarrhoea at the beginning of symptoms positive correlations between leptin and white blood cells, CRP and thrombocytes in blood.
Conclusions: These results suggest a correlation between the activity of inflammation measured by blood inflammatory markers and the level of leptin among patients with infective diarrhoea.