Relationship of Neonatal Leptin and Insulin to Birth Weight and Gender Difference as well as Their Relationship to Maternal Levels

Normal intrauterine growth and development is dependent on many factors of which hormonal factors have been implicated. The aim of the present work was to study the relationship of neonatal leptin and insulin to birth weight and gender difference as well as their relationship to maternal levels. Serum leptin level was assessed by competitive enzyme immunoassay and insulin level by radioimmunoassay in the cord blood of sixty neonates and the venous blood of their mothers. The neonates were classified according to their birth weight into: 23 appropriate for gestational age (AGA) (12 females and 11 males); 20 large for gestational age (LGA) (11 females and 9 males) and 17 small for gestational age (SGA) (9 femals and 8 males). Our results revealed a highly significant increase in maternal serum levels of leptin and insulin (24.1±11.8 ng/ml and 22.3±5.8 μ U/ml, respectively) when compared to neonatal levels (10.0 ± 7.4ng/ml and 7.4±4.3 μ U/ml, p<0.001, respectively). Cord blood leptin and insulin levels showed statistically significant differences between all weight classes with the highest levels in LGA neonates