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  • Alteration of the growth hormone axis, visceral fat dysfunction, and early cardiometabolic risk in adults: the role of the visceral adiposity index.

Alteration of the growth hormone axis, visceral fat dysfunction, and early cardiometabolic risk in adults: the role of the visceral adiposity index.

Endocrine (2014-11-10)
Carolina Di Somma, Alessandro Ciresi, Marco C Amato, Silvia Savastano, Maria Cristina Savanelli, Elisabetta Scarano, Annamaria Colao, Carla Giordano
ABSTRACT

The aim of the study is to clarify the relationship between adipose tissue dysfunction, metabolic profile and growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I secretion in healthy adult subjects. We investigated the metabolic profile in a cohort of 231 consecutive healthy subjects in relation to GH, IGF-I levels, and visceral adiposity index (VAI). Anthropometric measures, lipid profile, and glucose and insulin levels during oral glucose tolerance test, Homa-IR and ISI Matsuda, IGF-I and GH peak after GHRH plus Arginine test were analyzed. The subjects with high VAI showed lower GH peak (22.8 ± 11.1 vs. 42.2 ± 21.3 µg/L; p = 0.049) and lower IGF-I (presented as IGF-I under normal range, UNR) (0.54 ± 0.14 vs. 0.64 ± 0.12; p = 0.005) than group with normal VAI. ROC curve analysis identified the cut-off, able to detect subjects with high VAI, i.e., 31.8 µg/L for GH peak and 0.63 for IGF-1 UNR. The subjects with GH peak and IGF-I UNR under the cut-off showed significantly higher levels of VAI, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glucose and insulin levels, Homa-IR, and lower ISI Matsuda, with a concomitant worse lipid profile (all p < 0.001). A strong relationship between GH axis, VAI and metabolic risk has been demonstrated. A percentage of apparently healthy subjects show a degree of visceral adipose dysfunction associated with GH and IGF-I levels that do not meet the criteria of overt GH deficiency (GHD). Long-term prospective studies could help to clarify and confirm whether a hypothetical condition of subclinical GHD could be taken into account as a new clinical entity.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich
L-Arginine monohydrochloride, BioUltra, ≥99.5% (AT)
Sigma-Aldrich
L-Arginine monohydrochloride, reagent grade, ≥98% (HPLC), powder
Sigma-Aldrich
L-Arginine monohydrochloride, not synthetic, meets EP, JP, USP testing specifications, suitable for cell culture, 98.5-101.0%
SAFC
L-Arginine monohydrochloride