ESPE Abstracts

Background: The gastrointestinal (GI) tract plays a central role in maintaining energy balance and body weight regulation. These functions are mediated by the secretion of gut hormones, including ghrelin, cholecystokinin (CCK), peptide YY(PYY), oxyntomodulin (OXM) and many other hormones. Some of them are orexigenic hormones that promote food intake, while others act as satiety signals and enhance insulin secretion from the pancreatic beta cells. Current evidence suggests that dysregulation in gut hormone secretion may be associated with metabolic disturbances, such as obesity, insulin resistance, and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM).

Objective: Evaluate the level in cord blood of omentin-1, vaspin, OXM and PYY in a population of newborns.

Methods: We studied 79 newborns born at term in the Paediatric Department of Novara. For each newborn we evaluated gestational age, birth weight, length, head circumference and collected a venous cord blood sample for determination of levels.

Results: Males were 41 (52%) and females 38 (48%); mean gestational age was 38 weeks. Medium birth weight was 3264 gr, lenght was 49 cm and head circumference 33 cm. In our population, newborn weight was influenced by mother’s height (r=0.294; P<0.01), weight before pregnancy (r=0.369; P<0.01) and mother’s weight at childbirth (r=0.471; P<0.01). Mother’s weight at childbirth is also related with child length (r=0.329; P<0.01) and head circumference (r=0.290; P<0.01). Regarding hormones production, mean omentin-1 levels in cord blood were 1.92 ng/ml (range 0.15-7.73 ng/ml), mean vaspin levels 2.84 ng/ml (range 0.53-14.53 ng/ml), mean OXM levels 0.21 ng/ml (range 0.050-6.78 ng/ml) and mean PYY levels 0.065 ng/ml (range 0.007-0.278 ng/ml). OXM levels had significant correlation with gestational age (r=0.281; P<0.05) and AGA newborn (r=0.373, P<0.01). Its function is confirmed by the negative correlation with newborn LGA for the weight (r=-0.281; P<0.05). No other associations between the other hormone levels and newborns auxological data were found.

Conclusion: The negative correlation found in our study between cord OXM levels and birth weight in LGA neonates could suggest that this hormone plays the same metabolic activities exerted in adulthood, where it reduces the food intake and increases energy expenditure. Our preliminary data are the first described in a population of newborns and should be validated in a wide cohort.