Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

The Relationship of Ghrelin and Adiponectin with Bone Mineral Density and Bone Turnover Markers in Elderly Men

  • Published:
Calcified Tissue International Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Body weight is commonly considered a significant predictor of bone mineral density (BMD). Adiponectin, an adipocyte-derived hormone, could modulate BMD. Moreover, recent studies have reported that ghrelin is able to stimulate bone formation. In this study, we investigated any associations of adiponectin and ghrelin serum levels with bone turnover markers and BMD in elderly men. In 137 men aged 55 years and older (mean age 67.4 ± 5.4 years, mean body mass index [BMI] 26.6 ± 3.4 kg/m2), we evaluated serum adiponectin, serum ghrelin, body composition (fat mass and lean mass), BMD, bone alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and the carboxy-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (βCTX). Ghrelin showed significant correlations with BMD at the femoral neck (r = 0.25, P < 0.01), total femur (r = 0.22, P < 0.05), and whole body (r = 0.18, P < 0.05). However, after adjusting for age, BMI, and calcium intake, the correlation remained significant only for femoral neck BMD. Ghrelin showed a significant correlation with lean mass but not with fat mass and bone turnover markers. Adiponectin showed a positive association with both bone ALP and βCTX; the correlation between adiponectin and bone ALP (r = 0.25, P < 0.01) remained significant after adjusting for confounding variables. No significant correlations between adiponectin and BMD at all skeletal sites were observed. In conclusion, our study suggests that in elderly Italian men serum ghrelin was significantly associated with femoral neck BMD and that adiponectin was positively associated with bone ALP. Further studies are needed to elucidate the role of adipocytokines in bone metabolism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Canada)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Felson DT, Zhang Y, Hannan MT, Anderson JJ (1993) Effects of weight and body mass index on bone mineral density in men and women: the Framingham Study. J Bone Miner Res 8:567–573

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. De Laet C, Kanis JA, Odén A, Johanson H, Johnell O, Delmas P, Eisman JA, Kroger H, Fujiwara S, Garnero P, McCloskey EV, Mellstrom D, Melton LJ 3rd, Meunier PJ, Pols HA, Reeve J, Silman A, Tenenhouse A (2005) Body mass index as a predictor of fracture risk: a meta-analysis. Osteoporos Int 16:1330–1338

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Schindler AE, Ebert A, Friedrich E (1972) Conversion of androstenedione to estrone by human tissue. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 35:627–630

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Reid IR (2002) Relationships among body mass, its components, and bone. Bone 31:547–555

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Wang MC, Bachrach LK, Van Loan M, Hudes M, Flegal KM, Crawford PB (2005) The relative contributions of lean tissue mass and fat mass to bone density in young women. Bone 37:474–481

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Khosla S, Atkinson EJ, Riggs BL, Melton LJ 3rd (1996) Relationship between body composition and bone mass in women. J Bone Miner Res 11:857–863

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Zhao LJ, Liu YJ, Liu PY, Hamilton J, Recker RR, Deng HW (2007) Relationship of obesity with osteoporosis. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 92:1640–1646

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Zhao LJ, Jiang H, Papasian CJ, Maulik D, Drees B, Hamilton J, Deng HW (2008) Correlation of obesity and osteoporosis—effect of fat mass on the determination of osteoporosis. J Bone Miner Res 23:17–29

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Oh KW, Lee WY, Rhee EJ, Baek KH, Yoon KH, Kang MI, Yun EJ, Park CY, Ihm SH, Choi MG, Yoo HJ, Park SW (2005) The relationship between serum resistin, leptin, adiponectin, ghrelin levels and bone mineral density in middle-aged men. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 63:131–138

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Kontogianni MD, Dafni UG, Routsias JG, Skopouli FN (2004) Blood leptin and adiponectin as possible mediators of the relation between fat mass and BMD in perimenopausal women. J Bone Miner Res 19:546–551

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Cornish J, Callon KE, Bava U, Lin C, Naot D, Hill BL, Grey AB, Broom N, Myers DE, Nicholson GC, Reid IR (2002) Leptin directly regulates bone cell function in vitro and reduces bone fragility in vivo. J Endocrinol 175:405–415

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Martini G, Valenti R, Giovani S, Franci B, Campagna R, Nuti R (2001) Influence of insulin-like growth factor-1 and leptin on bone mass in healthy postmenopausal women. Bone 28:113–117

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Díez JJ, Iglesias P (2003) The role of the novel adipocyte-derived hormone adiponectin in human disease. Eur J Endocrinol 148:293–300

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Luo XH, Guo LJ, Yuan LQ, Xie H, Zhou HD, Wu XP, Liao EY (2005) Adiponectin stimulates human osteoblast proliferation and differentiation via the MAPK signaling pathway. Exp Cell Res 309:99–109

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Luo XH, Guo LJ, Xie H, Yuan LQ, Wu XP, Zhou HD, Liao EY (2006) Adiponectin stimulates RANKL and inhibits OPG expression in human osteoblasts through the MAPK signaling pathway. J Bone Miner Res 21:1648–1656

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Lenchik L, Register TC, Hsu FC, Lohman K, Nicklas BJ, Freedman BI, Langefeld CD, Carr JJ, Bowden DW (2003) Adiponectin as a novel determinant of bone mineral density and visceral fat. Bone 33:646–651

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Richards JB, Valdes AM, Burling K, Perks UC, Spector TD (2007) Serum adiponectin and bone mineral density in women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 92:1517–1523

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Jürimäe J, Jürimäe T (2007) Adiponectin is a predictor of bone mineral density in middle-aged premenopausal women. Osteoporos Int 18:1253–1259

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Peng XD, Xie H, Zhao Q, Wu XP, Sun ZQ, Liao EY (2008) Relationships between serum adiponectin, leptin, resistin, visfatin levels and bone mineral density, and bone biochemical markers in Chinese men. Clin Chim Acta 387:31–35

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Lee NK, Sowa H, Hinoi E, Ferron M, Ahn JD, Confavreux C, Dacquin R, Mee PJ, McKee MD, Jung DY, Zhang Z, Kim JK, Mauvais-Jarvis F, Ducy P, Karsenty G (2007) Endocrine regulation of energy metabolism by the skeleton. Cell 130:456–469

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Kojima M, Kangawa K (2005) Ghrelin: structure and function. Physiol Rev 85:495–522

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Makovey J, Naganathan V, Seibel M, Sambrook P (2007) Gender differences in plasma ghrelin and its relations to body composition and bone—an opposite-sex twin study. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 66:530–537

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. van der Velde M, Delhanty P, van der Eerden B, van der Lely AJ, van Leeuwen J (2008) Ghrelin and bone. Vitam Horm 77:239–258

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Fukushima N, Hanada R, Teranishi H, Fukue Y, Tachibana T, Ishikawa H, Takeda S, Takeuchi Y, Fukumoto S, Kangawa K, Nagata K, Kojima M (2005) Ghrelin directly regulates bone formation. J Bone Miner Res 20:790–798

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Maccarinelli G, Sibilia V, Torsello A, Raimondo F, Pitto M, Giustina A, Netti C, Cocchi D (2005) Ghrelin regulates proliferation and differentiation of osteoblastic cells. J Endocrinol 184:249–256

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Kim SW, Her SJ, Park SJ, Kim D, Park KS, Lee HK, Han BH, Kim MS, Shin CS, Kim SY (2005) Ghrelin stimulates proliferation and differentiation and inhibits apoptosis in osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. Bone 37:359–369

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Weiss LA, Barrett-Connor E, von Mühlen D, Clark P (2006) Leptin predicts BMD and bone resorption in older women but not older men: the Rancho Bernardo Study. J Bone Miner Res 21:758–764

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Huda MS, Durham BH, Wong SP, Dovey TM, McCulloch P, Kerrigan D, Pinkney JH, Fraser WD, Wilding JP (2007) Lack of an acute effect of ghrelin on markers of bone turnover in healthy controls and post-gastrectomy subjects. Bone 41:406–413

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Montomoli M, Gonnelli S, Giacchi M, Mattei R, Cuda C, Rossi S, Gennari C (2002) Validation of a food frequency questionnaire for nutritional calcium intake assessment in Italian women. Eur J Clin Nutr 56:21–30

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Dornonville de la Cour C, Lindqvist A, Egecioglu E, Tung YC, Surve V, Ohlsson C, Jansson JO, Erlanson-Albertsson C, Dickson SL, Håkanson R (2005) Ghrelin treatment reverses the reduction in weight gain and body fat in gastrectomised mice. Gut 54:907–913

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Coates PS, Fernstrom JD, Fernstrom MH, Schauer PR, Greenspan SL (2004) Gastric bypass surgery for morbid obesity leads to an increase in bone turnover and a decrease in bone mass. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 89:1061–1065

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Pérez-Castrillón JL, Justo I, Sanz A, San Miguel A, Mazón MA, Abad L, Vega G, Dueñas A (2007) Ghrelin and bone mass in postmenopausal hypertensive women. Ann Nutr Metab 51:223–227

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Papakitsou EF, Margioris AN, Dretakis KE, Trovas G, Zoras U, Lyritis G, Dretakis EK, Stergiopoulos K (2004) Body mass index (BMI) and parameters of bone formation and resorption in postmenopausal women. Maturitas 47:185–193

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Oshima K, Nampei A, Matsuda M, Iwaki M, Fukuhara A, Hashimoto J, Yoshikawa H, Shimomura I (2005) Adiponectin increases bone mass by suppressing osteoclast and activating osteoblast. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 331:520–526

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Endocrine-Metabolic Science and Biochemistry, University of Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, Viale Bracci 2, 53100, Siena, Italy

    S. Gonnelli, C. Caffarelli, K. Del Santo, A. Cadirni, C. Guerriero, B. Lucani, B. Franci & R. Nuti

Authors
  1. S. Gonnelli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. C. Caffarelli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. K. Del Santo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. A. Cadirni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. C. Guerriero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. B. Lucani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. B. Franci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. R. Nuti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Gonnelli.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gonnelli, S., Caffarelli, C., Del Santo, K. et al. The Relationship of Ghrelin and Adiponectin with Bone Mineral Density and Bone Turnover Markers in Elderly Men. Calcif Tissue Int 83, 55–60 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-008-9149-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-008-9149-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation