Study on Changing Regularity of Leptin and Level of Other Hormones during Puberty in Children

ObjectiveTo study the changing regularity of leptin and some hormones during puberty in children and the relationship between them.MethodThe levels of leptin、sex hormones、growth hormone(GH)and insulin(INS)were measured in blood in 300 healthy children,aged 10~16.ResultsWith age increasing,leptin levels ranged from low to high to low in boys, while leptin had increasing trendency in girls.Sex hormones had increasing trendency in both groups.The changing of GH levles showed sudden increase and sudden decrease in all groups,but the time of suden increase in boys differed from that in girls(boys:14~15 years;girls:13~14 years).There had no obvious regularity in INS changing.There was significant negative correlation between testosterone and leptin in boys(r=-0.93,P<0.01), while the estradiol was positive correlated with leptin in girls(r=0.95,P<0.01).GHw as negative correlated with leptin in boys (r=-0.69,P<0.05)and positive correlated with leptin in girls (r=0.67,P<0.01).There waspositive correlation between INS and leptin in girls(r=0.54,P<0.05).There was positive correlation between INSand leptin in girls(r=0.54,P<0.05).ConclusionLeptin mighthave impor tant effect on pubertal onset in children and play a more role in pubertal develo pment in girls compared with boys.There are gender differences in the corrleations between leptin and GH,which may cause the differences of the timing of sudden growth in boys and girls.