Research

Acute effect of smoking on plasma Obestatin levels

Asterios Kukuvitis¹ , Marios Froudarakis² , Stavros Tryfon³ , Argyris Tzouvelekis² , Maria Saroglou³ , Nikolaos Karkavitsas⁴ and Demosthenes Bouros²

¹  Department of Endocrinology, Medical School Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece

²  Department of Pneumonology, Medical School Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece

³  1st Department of Pneumonology, GH "G Papanikolaou", Thessaloniki, Greece

⁴  Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical School University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece

author email corresponding author email

Tobacco Induced Diseases 2010, 8:2doi:10.1186/1617-9625-8-2

Published:	7 January 2010

Abstract

Background

Smoking and smoking cessation are considered to be associated with weight changes. We have recently shown that smoking acutely increases plasma levels of ghrelin, a known orexigenic hormone.

Obestatin is a peptide encoded by the ghrelin gene, which opposes ghrelin effects on food intake. We conducted a study in adult volunteers measuring plasma levels of obestatin immediately after initiation of smoking.

Methods

31 volunteers (mean age 32.2 ± 9.2 years and mean BMI 25.7 ± 4.1), 17 smokers and 14 non-smokers, were enrolled in our study. The 2 groups were matched in age and BMI. Plasma obestatin concentrations were determined at baseline (T0), 2 (T2), 5 (T5), 15 (T15), and 60 (T60) minutes after the initiation of smoking.

Results

In all 31 subjects, no significant difference in the mean values of plasma obestatin levels was observed from baseline at T2, T5, T15 and T60 after initiation of smoking (overall p = 0.15). However, a trend for higher obestatin levels was noted in smokers vs non-smokers (overall p = 0.069), which was not related to the pack-years.

Conclusion

On the contrary with ghrelin's response after smoking initiation, there is no such an acute response of plasma obestatin levels.