[Plasma levels of beta-endorphin , ACTH and cortisol in obese patients subjected to several weight-loss treatments]

Abstract

It is now well-known that the plasmatic levels of beta-endorphin (B-Ep) in subjects suffering from hyperphagie obesity during childhood, adolescence and adult age, are higher than those of normal weight standard-wright. The causes are still unknown. In obese subjects, there is also a dissociation between plasmatic levels of B-Ep and of ACTH, in spite of the common origin of Proopiomelanocortin (POMC). On the basis of these observations we studied the plasmatic levels of B-Ep, ACTH and cortisol, basal and after DXM, before and after the reduction of body weight. With the aim of evaluating pharmacological interference, the obese subjects were treated with diet alone or diet associated with an anorectic and serotoninergic drug (fenfluramin). The results have shown that after slimming, obtained with diet alone or with the help of the serotoninergic drug, the hyperendorphinemia persists both in basal conditions and after the DXM test. The verification of such behaviour in some psychiatric diseases supports our assumption of a link between hyperendorphinemia, behaviour alterations, hyperphagy and obesity.