Ghrelin to obestatin ratio in maternal serum in pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction.

Ghrelin, an endogenous for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor, has been shown to participate in fetal growth. Obestatin, encoded by the same gene as ghrelin, is described as a physiological opponent of ghrelin. This study was designed to determine the changes of ghrelin/obestatin ratio in maternal serum in pregnancies with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). The authors found that the ghrelin levels in maternal serum were significent lower in IUGR group than in control group (236.34 ± 14.58 pg/ml vs. 321.49 ± 18.19 pg/ml, p = 0.003). However, the difference of obestatin levels in maternal serum in IUGR group than in control group was not significent (276.25, ±20.54 pg/ml vs. 256.34 ± 21.21 pg/ml, p = 0.308). The ratio of ghrelin to obestatin in maternal serum were significent lower in UGR group than in control group (1.05 ± 0.09 vs. 0.82 ± 0.08, p = 0.03). Meanwhile, the maternal serum growth hormone (GH) concentration in IUGR group was lower than that in control group (1.08 ± 0.08 pg/ml vs. 1.41 ± 0.09 pg/ml, p = 0.009), and the maternal serum pla- cental growth hormone (PGH) concentration in IUGR group was lower than that in control group (2.21 ± 1.24 pg/ml vs. 2.92 ± 0.27 pg/ml,p = 0.031). The ratio of ghrelin to obestatin in maternal serum were positively correlation with GH and PGH concentrations in IUGR group (r = 0.876, p = 0.52; r = 0.764, p = 0.64). The findings of this study suggest that the ratio of ghrelin to obestatin in maternal serum were low, and were positively correlated with GH and PGH concentration in IUGR group, which can been considered as evidencees of ghrelin/obestatin balance disorder role in pathogenesis of IUGR.