Evaluation of serum ghrelin, nesfatin-1, irisin, and vasoactive intestinal peptide levels in temporal lobe epilepsy patients with and without drug resistance: a cross-sectional study

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: Epilepsy is a common disorder that affects the nervous systems of 1% of worldwide population. In epilepsy, one-third of patients are unresponsive to current drug therapies and develop drug-resistant epilepsy. Alterations in ghrelin, nesfatin-1, and irisin levels with epilepsy were reported in previous studies. Vasoactive intestinal peptide is among the most common neuropeptides in the hippocampus, which is the focus of the seizures in temporal lobe epilepsy. However, there is also lack of evidence of whether these four neuropeptide levels are altered with drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy or not. The aim herein was the evaluation of the serum levels of nesfatin-1, ghrelin, irisin, and Vasoactive intestinal peptide in drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy patients and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) without drug resistance, and to compare them to healthy controls. METHODS: This cross-sectional study group included 58 temporal lobe epilepsy patients (24 with drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy and 34 with temporal lobe epilepsy who were not drug-resistant) and 28 healthy subjects. Nesfatin-1, ghrelin, irisin, and Vasoactive intestinal peptide serum levels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The serum ghrelin levels of patients with drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy were seen to have significantly decreased when compared to those of the control group (p<0.05). Serum nesfatin-1, vasoactive intestinal peptide, and irisin levels were seen to have decreased in the drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy group when compared to those of the control and temporal lobe epilepsy groups; however, the difference was non-significant (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results herein suggested that ghrelin might contribute to the pathophysiology of drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy. However, further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Serum nesfatin-1 levels are decreased in pregnant women newly diagnosed with gestational diabetes

ABSTRACT Objective To investigate serum nesfatin-1 levels at 24-28 weeks of pregnancy in women newly diagnosed with gestational diabetes and determine the association of nesfatin-1 with several metabolic parameters. Subjects and methods Forty women newly diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 24-28 weeks of pregnancy and 30 healthy pregnant women matched in age and gestational week were included in this cross-sectional study. Serum nesfatin-1 levels were analyzed using ELISA, and the relationship between nesfatin-1 and several metabolic parameters were assessed. Results Serum nesfatin-1 levels were found to be lower in women with gestational diabetes compared to the pregnant women in the control sample (p = 0.020). Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that nesfatin-1 was lower in participants with gestational diabetes independently from gestational age, BMI, HOMA-IR, fasting plasma glucose, and age. In correlation analysis, the only variable that was found to have a statistically significant correlation with nesfatin-1 was gestational age (p = 0.015, r = 0.30). Conclusion Lower nesfatin-1 levels in women with gestational diabetes compared to the control group at 24-28 weeks of gestation draws attention to nesfatin-1 levels in gestational diabetes and motivates further research in this area.