Context:The levels of ghrelin, an orexigenic hormone secreted by oxyntic cells in the digestive tract, are elevated in Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and GH deficiency (GHD) patients. In this study, we hypothesized that the hyperghrelinemia observed in PWS is related to IGF-I or GH/IGF axis deficiency.
Design:We investigated the densities of ghrelin-expressing cells (GECs), the amounts of ghrelin in gastric tissues, and ghrelin levels in plasma in 16 PWS patients and compared these results with those of 13 GHD patients and comparison groups (19 normal lean and 10 normal obese subjects).
Results:In the gastric body and fundus, 2-to 3-fold increases in the numbers of GECs (P Ͻ 0.001) and in the amounts of ghrelin (P Ͻ 0.018) were noted in PWS patients vs. comparison groups, whereas GEC numbers in GHD patients were similar to those of the comparison group despite elevated fasting plasma ghrelin levels. In addition, IGF-I SD scores in PWS were not found to be correlated with GEC densities, the amounts of ghrelin expressed in gastric tissues, or plasma ghrelin levels.
Conclusions:Our results suggest that IGF-I or GH/IGF axis deficiency appears to be unrelated to observed GEC increases in the stomach of patients with PWS.
G HRELIN IS AN acylated peptide that is secreted byA-like endocrine cells of the oxyntic mucosa of the stomach and induces the secretion of GH (1, 2). Removing the acid-producing portion of the stomach was found previously to reduce circulating ghrelin by 80%, supporting the notion that the oxyntic mucosa is the major source of circulating ghrelin (3). Ghrelin can induce acute hunger, increase food intake, and reduce fat utilization in rodents and humans (1, 4). However, the direct orexigenic effect of ghrelin in its physiologic concentration range has not been elucidated in rodents or humans.Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is the most common form of human syndromic obesity. Ghrelin levels have been reported to be elevated in PWS (5-7). Moreover, unlike normal obese individuals, who have low fasting-plasma ghrelin concentrations, PWS patients can have 3-to 4-fold higher ghrelin fasting concentrations (5-7). Elevated plasma ghrelin levels in PWS may be related to low plasma insulin levels, because insulin plays an important role in the suppression of plasma ghrelin (8 -10).Recently, plasma ghrelin levels were reported to be elevated in patients with GH deficiency (GHD) (11,12). Because some PWS patients show attenuated plasma GH levels, and because total and free IGF-I have been reported to be low in PWS compared with obese individuals, partial GHD may also contribute to the hyperghrelinemia in PWS.In the present study, we hypothesized that the hyperghrelinemia observed in PWS is related to IGF-I or GH/IGF axis deficiency. We investigated plasma ghrelin levels, ghrelin-expressing cell (GEC) densities, and ghrelin quantities in the gastric tissues of PWS and GHD patients and in those of lean and obese normal subjects and correlated these results with total IGF-I levels. We found that GEC densities and ghreli...