Relatively low serum leptin levels in adults born with intra-uterine growth retardation

BACKGROUND: In-utero under-nutrition dramatically alters the development of adipose tissue, during the fetal and the neonatal period. THE AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate whether adults born with intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR) show evidence of impaired adipose tissue develop ment and leptin regulation. DESIGN: Serum leptin concentrations were measured in 26 healthy adults born with IUGR and 25 controls aged 24 y who have been studied previously, 3y a go. RESULTS: The IUGR group demonstrated a significant increase of body mass in dex (BMI) in comparison to controls between 21 and 24 y of age (4.8 +/- 7.7 %, P = 0.004 vs 0.8 +/- 6.7%, P = 0.70). Percentage of total body fat mass was significantly higher in IUGR-born subjects than in controls (27.2 +/- 7 .6 vs 22.0 +/- 7.3%, P = 0.02). Fasting insulin was significantly higher in the IUGR group (7.5 +/- 3.8 vs 5.3 +/- 2.3 muU/ml, P = 0.03). Surprisingly , crude serum leptin concentrations did not significantly differ between th e two groups. Moreover, adjusted means of serum leptin levels were signific antly lower in IUGR-born subjects than in controls when corrected for body fat mass, gender and fasting insulin (11.3 vs 1 3.8 ng/ml, P = 0.02). SUMMARY: Adults born with IUGR developed an excess of adipose tissue associ ated with relatively low serum leptin levels suggestive of an altered adipo cyte function. Considering the close relationship between adipose tissue an d insulin-sensitivity, these observations point to the potential implicatio n of abnormal adipose tissue development in the long-term metabolic consequ ences associated with in-utero undernutrition.