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Lower serum oxytocin levels associated with type 2 diabetes, obesity
Patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes appear to have significantly decreased circulating levels of oxytocin, according to recent findings.
In the study, the researchers recruited 176 patients from the Diabetes Center of Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University in China to determine the relationships between serum oxytocin levels and glycolipid metabolism, insulin resistance, pancreatic beta-cell function and inflammation. Eighty-eight patients were newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and 88 had normal glucose tolerance.
The researchers found that patients in the type 2 diabetes group had lower serum oxytocin levels than those in the normal glucose tolerance group (P<.01) and participants with obesity had lower circulating levels of serum oxytocin than those classified as normal weight (P<.01). The researchers determine that there was an inverse association between serum oxytocin levels and BMI, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, HbA1c, fasting plasma glucose, 2-hour post-meal plasma glucose, fasting insulin, 2-hour insulin, total cholesterol. Triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, insulin sensitivity and highly sensitive C-reactive protein.
There was a positive association between beta-cell function and serum oxytocin levels (P<.05). In a multiple stepwise regression analysis with oxytocin as the dependent variable, the researchers found that serum oxytocin was association with 2-hour post-meal plasma glucose, BMI and triglycerides.
In logistic regression analyses, it was determine that serum oxytocin was significantly correlated with type 2 diabetes (P<.01).
“In summary, our results indicate for the first time that circulating oxytocin concentrations were significantly decreased in obesity and type 2 diabetes patients,” the researchers wrote. “Moreover, serum oxytocin levels were closely correlated with glycolipid metabolism, insulin resistance, pancreatic beta-cell function and inflammation.”
Disclosure: The study was funded in part by the Medical Science and Technology Development Foundation and International Exchange Program of the Jiangsu Province Department of Health, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province and the Science and Technology Commission of Zhenjiang City.