Impact of Serum Adiponectin Concentration on Birth Size and Early Postnatal Growth

Abstract

ABSTRACT:In term neonates, the adiponectin concentration is higher than it is in adults. To determine the relationship between adiponectin and early neonatal growth in a cohort study. Fifty-two neonates at term were studied. Serum adiponectin concentrations, body sizes, and skinfold thicknesses were measured at birth and at 1 mo of age. At birth, cord blood adiponectin concentration correlated positively with birth weight (r ϭ 0.484, p ϭ 0.0003), birth length (r ϭ 0.524, p Ͻ 0.0001), and sum of the four skinfold thickness measurements (r ϭ 0.378, p ϭ 0.0057). In a stepwise regression, birth length was the only determinant of cord blood adiponectin concentration. However, at 1 mo of age, serum adiponectin concentration correlated with no anthropometric parameter at all. Between birth and 1 mo of age, the individual change in adiponectin concentration correlated negatively with birth weight. Thus, serum adiponectin concentrations in cord blood have a strong relationship to birth length rather than to body fatness, and this relationship is not demonstrated in 1-mo-old infants. These results imply that hormonal, substrate, or other mechanisms that regulate the relationship between body composition and growth in fetal life are different from those governing these relationships in early postnatal life. A diponectin is an adipocytokine produced exclusively by adipocytes and has potential antidiabetic, antiatherosclerotic, and anti-inflammatory properties. Therefore, serum adiponectin concentration may be applied usefully as a biomarker of metabolic syndrome (1). Paradoxically, however, adiponectin concentration is inversely correlated with body fatness in adults (2) and in children (3), unlike the other adipocytokines, such as leptin, interleukin (IL)-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ␣. Overall, the regulation of adiponectin concentrations and its functions are still not sufficiently understood, especially in growing infants.Adiponectin is also abundantly present in cord blood of term neonates, at concentrations two to three times higher than those reported in adults (2,4). Recent studies suggest that low adiponectin concentration in small neonates may be one of the mechanisms underlying the long-term consequences of an adverse fetal environment (5) and that small size at birth is associated with increased rates of the metabolic syndrome (6). However, adiponectin must have physiologic functions in the fetus and in neonates other than that of merely serving as a biomarker for the development of the metabolic syndrome. Little is known about the roles of adiponectin in the fetus. Recent studies in cord blood suggest that adiponectin, which is positively associated with birth weight, may play an important role in regulating fetal growth (7,8). Furthermore, adiponectin concentration in cord blood correlates positively with gestational age, increasing as the amount of adipose tissue also increases during the last trimester (8). This is in marked contrast to findings in adulthood where increased adiposity is associated with...

Early postnatal alteration of body composition in preterm and small-for-gestational-age infants: implications of catch-up fat

“…In our previous cohort study of term infants (69), cord blood adiponectin levels were strongly related to birth weight and skinfold thickness; however, these relationships were not demonstrated in 1-mo-old infants. Adiponectin levels increased markedly during 1 mo along with s.c. fat accumulation.…”

Changes in Serum Adiponectin Levels from Birth to Term-Equivalent Age Are Associated with Postnatal Weight Gain in Preterm Infants

“…Inami et al [26] have demonstrated that neither the mean change in body weight/body length, nor skinfold thickness correlates with the changes in adiponectin levels from birth to 1 month of age in term neonates despite a positive relationship between cord adiponectin levels and birth length, suggesting that adiponectin has an effect on fetal growth, but no effect on early postnatal growth. Similarly, an investigation in a large number of term newborns showed that growth velocity during the first week of life was positively associated with serum insulin-like growth factor-I levels, but not serum adiponectin levels [27,28] .…”

High-Molecular-Weight Adiponectin and Leptin Levels in Cord Blood Are Associated with Anthropometric Measurements at Birth

“…On the other hand, cord blood leptin levels, and not HMW-ad, were significantly associated with birth weight to length ratio in the multiple regression analysis. The birth weight to length ratio seems to be associated with body fat content [25]. Thus, cord blood leptin concentrations may have a stronger association with fat content in neonates as compared with those of adiponectin concentrations.…”