Study of anandamide as an endocannbinoid neurotransmitter in type 2 diabetic patients

Abstract EN

Background: Obesity is a major concern with epidemic proportions in Western countries.

It is a complex metabolic disorder characterized by a positive disequilibrium between energy intake and energy expenditure.

The consequent expansion of the adipose organ, and in particular of visceral fat depots, increases the risk of developing obesity complications (i.e.

insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, steatohepatitis, and cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases), but the precise mechanisms underlying this association are poorly understood.

Endocannabinoids (ECBs) are ubiquitous lipid mediators that act through the same G protein-coupled receptors (CB1 and CB2) that recognize plant-derived cannabinoids.

As regulators of metabolism, ECBs are anabolic: they increase the intake, promote the storage, and decrease the expenditure of energy.

Recent work indicates that activation of peripheral CB1 receptors by ECBs plays a key role in the hormonal/metabolic changes associated with obesity/metabolic syndrome and may be targeted for its pharmacotherapy. Objectives: To fix the role of Anandamide as a risk factor of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes. Subjects and Methods: This study included 25 subjects.

All subjects are between 30 and 60 years old.

Subjects with organ failure, secondary causes of diabetes and pregnant ladies are excluded. They are divided into 2 groups.

Group 1: comprises 15 patients with type 2 DM who include 11obese diabetic and 4 non obese diabetic patients. Group 2: comprises 10 control subjects who include 6 obese non diabetic and 4 non obese non diabetic subjects.

All individuals enrolled in this study will be subjected to Full medical history , thorough clinical examination and anthropometric measures , fasting plasma anandamide level , fasting blood glucose ,HbA1C , lipid profile (serum cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-c and HDL-c ). Results: Our study revealed that the Anandamide was found to be significantly higher in the diabetic group than the non-diabetic group with (P<0.001) and in the obese group than the non-obese group with (P<0.05).

Also it revealed that the fasting plasma Anandamide level was positively and highly significantly correlated with duration of DM , the waist circumference , FBG , and TG levels with (P<0.01) and positively significantly correlated with age , BMI and HbA1C with (P<0.05).

Whereas the correlation between the Anandamide and the total cholesterol level, the LDL-c , and the body weight was positive with no statistical significance.

On the other hand, it was found that the correlation between the Anandamide and the body height and HDL-c levels was negative with no statistical significance (P>0.05).

This study revealed also that the most important predictor of fasting Anandamide level among the studied parameters revealed that the duration of diabetes is the most important predictor of fasting Anandamide level followed by the triglycerides level. Conclusion: These results revealed the activation of ECS, presented by the increase of plasma Anandamide level, in diabetes mellitus type 2 and in visceral obesity and that type 2 diabetes mellitus contributed more to the dysregulation of ECS than obesity did.