Abstract

    Open Access Short Communication Article ID: APM-1-101

    The Relationship between Plasma Levels of Large Neutral Amino Acids and Leptin in Women with or Without Obesity

    Ming Der Chen* and Yuh Min Song

    Obesity, characterized as excessive fat accumulation, is caused by interactions of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors [1]. Obesity increases the risk of various diseases including type 2 diabetes mellitus. Insulin resistance, commonly occurring in obese subjects, is attributed to the defects in insulin action on mediating the metabolism of macronutrients in target tissues [2]. Insulin increases amino acids uptake and protein biosynthesis in a tissue-specific manner [3]. In turn, certain amino acids can mediate insulin secretion [4].

    Branched-chain (BCAA=valine+leucine+ isoleucine) and aromatic (AAA=tyrosine+phenylalanine+tryptophan) amino acids are of particular interest because they have distinctive effects to against obesity formation, as in regulating glucose oxidation [5] and satiety factors secretion [6,7]. Paradoxically, obese subjects have hyperaminoacidemia [8]. A close link between elevated plasma BCAA and obesity-related diabetes has also been found [9]. Elevated plasma BCAA may inhibit insulin signaling and contribute to insulin resistance [10]. Moreover, obese subjects have depressed activity in BCAA catabolism [11]. Leptin, produced by adipocytes, is secreted in proportion to the amount of body fat mass [12]. Besides regulating energy metabolism, leptin also positively affects amino acids uptake [13]. Since the changes in fasting plasma BCAA profile among ob/ob mouse (leptin deficiency), fa/fa rat (leptin receptor deficiency), and high-fat obese rodents (leptin resistance) are inconsistent [11,14,15], an interaction between leptin and amino acids in blood was thus proposed.

    Keywords: Branched-chain amino acids; Glutamine; Obesity; Ornithine; Taurine

    Published on: Nov 29, 2016 Pages: 1-3

    Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/apm.000001
    CrossMark Publons Harvard Library HOLLIS Search IT Semantic Scholar Get Citation Base Search Scilit OAI-PMH ResearchGate Academic Microsoft GrowKudos Universite de Paris UW Libraries SJSU King Library SJSU King Library NUS Library McGill DET KGL BIBLiOTEK JCU Discovery Universidad De Lima WorldCat VU on WorldCat

    Indexing/Archiving

    Pinterest on APM