Serum Lipid Profile And Random Blood Glucose of Male And Female Wistar Rats Following Administration of Leptin Hormone After A Dietary Regime

The Leptin hormone is a product of the obesity gene, a key regulator of feeding and energy expenditure.The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts 11.1 million deaths globally and 71% deaths in developing countries due to Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) by 2020 A.D. CAD has been associated with alterations in lipid metabolism, which include hyper-triglyceridemia and significantly reduced HDL-c. The increase in the concentration of cholesterol is attributable to LDL cholesterol because the high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is typically reduced. The study is aimed at determining the effect of leptin hormone on fasting serum lipid profile, atherogenic index (AI) and Random Blood glucose (RBG) inWistar rats following a diet regime and leptin injection.Fourty (40) Wistar rats (male n=20, female=20), age 9weeks and weighing between 77.2g-123.0g were randomly divided into two (2) groups of 5 rats per sub-group. All groups were maintained ad-libitum on experimental diets and water for a period of 10weeks. Group 1 (A1 and B1) the control received standard rat feed, group 2 (A2 and B2) received high fat diet (margarine, 90%) mixed with some standard rat feed (10%), group 3 (A3 and B3) received protein diet (soya beans, 100%) and group 4 (A4 and B4) received carbohydrate diet (cereal, 100%). The leptin hormone was given intra-peritoneal for a period of two (2) weeks.The resultshowed a significant difference (Plt0.05) in the Tot-c, TG, VLDL-c, LDL-c and RBG in the pre-test and post-test periods, but there was no significant difference (Pgt0.05) for the calculated atherogenic index (AI). There was a significant difference (Plt0.05) and sexual dimorphism for HDL-c and AI respectively and no significant difference (Pgt0.60) for Tot-c, TG, VLDL-c, LDL-c and RBG. It also showed a low LDL-c, low TG, low VLDL-c, low Tot-c and high HDL-c which resulted in a low AI in the male gender. The RBG was increased after the injection of the leptin hormone in all the groups. There was no sexual dimorphism in RBG. The result implies that the male gender is at a lower risk developing coronary artery disease (CAD)