Vol. 284, Issue 3, E634-E640, March 2003
Leptin response to short-term fasting in sympathectomized
men: role of the SNS
Justin Y.
Jeon1,2,
Vicki J.
Harber2, and
Robert D.
Steadward1
1 The Steadward Center for Personal and Physical
Achievement, 2 Department of Physical Education and
Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada T6G 2H9
We studied plasma leptin levels in six
people with high-lesion spinal cord injury [SCI; body mass index (BMI)
25.9 ± 1.5 kg/m2, age 37 ± 3.0 yr] and six
able-bodied (AB) controls (BMI 29.1 ± 1.9 kg/m2, age
35 ± 3.5 yr) before and after 12, 24, and 36 h of fasting. The plasma leptin levels significantly decreased during 36 h
fasting by 48.8 ± 4.5% (pre: 11.3 ± 2.3, post: 6.2 ± 1.5 ng/ml) and 38.6 ± 7.9% (pre: 7.6 ± 5.0, post: 4.2 ± 1.0 ng/ml) in SCI and AB, respectively. Plasma leptin started to
decrease at 24 h of fasting in the SCI group, whereas plasma
leptin started to decrease at 12 h of fasting in the AB group. The
current study demonstrated that plasma leptin decreased with fasting in
both SCI and AB groups, with the leptin decrease being delayed in the
SCI group. The delayed leptin response to fasting in the SCI group may
be because of increased fat mass (%body fat, SCI: 33.8 ± 3.0, AB: 24.1 ± 2.9) and sympathetic nervous system dysfunction.
spinal cord injury; tetraplegia; ob gene; diabetes; sympathetic nervous system; spinal cord injury
