The relationship of appetite-regulating hormones in the development of cardiac cachexia

Abstract

Summary The physiological control of appetite regulation involves circulating hormones with orexigenic (ghrelin) and anorexigenic (cholecystokinin) properties that induce alterations in energy intake via perceptions of hunger and satiety. We sought to investigate the relationship between appetite-regulating hormones and the cachexia associated with chronic heart failure. We randomized male Sprague-Dawley rats into myocardial infarction (MI) or sham operation (SO) groups. The levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), cholecystokinin (CCK) and ghrelin in the plasma of all rats were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); the expression of BNP, CCK, and ghrelin in the myocardial tissue of all rats were detected by western blotting, immunohistochemistry, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR); myocardial morphology was assessed by microscopy. Plasma BNP and CCK levels in the cardiac cachexia (CC) groups and the heart failure non-cachexia (HF-nc) groups were significantly higher than those in the control groups (P < 0.01), and the expression of BNP and CCK in the myocardial tissue of rats: in CC groups and HF-nc groups were increased compared with the corresponding control groups (P < 0.01). In contrast, Plasma and cardiac expression of ghrelin decreased compared with the sham group (P < 0.01). Furthermore, plasma CCK levels were positively correlated with BNP concentrations (P < 0.001) and significantly negatively correlated with the ejection fraction (P < 0.001) in model animals; plasma ghrelin levels were negatively associated with BNP levels (P = 0.0023) and positively associated with ejection fraction (P = 0.0042). The appetite-regulating hormones (ghrelin and CCK) may present as a potential significant biomarker for cachexia associated with chronic heart failure.