Leptin Levels and Lipids Profile Determination in
Different Sheep Breeds
Arzu Comba1,*, Handan Mert1 and Bahat Comba2
1Departmant
of Biochemical; 2Departmant of Physiology, Faculty of
Veterinary Medicine, University of Yuzuncu Yil, Van, Turkey;
*Corresponding author:
arzu_comba@hotmail.com
Abstract
Leptin hormone is produced by fat cells and is
believed to coordinate the control of body weight. This study was conducted to
determine the levels of leptin, triglyceride, cholesterol, VLDL, LDL, HDL and
glucose in serum apart from the body weight of animals, and to find out the
correlations between them. Four breeds of sheep (Karakul; semi-fat tailed breed,
Morkaraman and Norduz; fat tailed breeds, Tahirova; thin tailed breed) were used
as research material under the same feeding conditions. Fifteen sheep of each
group -for a total of 60- were selected as research material. ELISA tests were
used to determine serum leptin levels; auto analyzer was used for the estimation
of triglyceride, cholesterol, VLDL, LDL, HDL and glucose levels. Body weights
were measured by a weighing scale.Leptin
levels, along with triglyceride, cholesterol, VLDL, LDL, HDL levels and body
weight, were higher in Tahirova sheep breed, and the difference was found
statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant
difference between the HDL levels of sheep breeds. Glucose levels were high in
Karakul breed and statistically significant difference was determined between
Karakul, Norduz and Tahirova breeds (P<0.05). In conclusion, thin tailed sheep
breeds were found to have a high leptin level, which shows that leptin levels
are independent of the tail fat ratios. Leptin has been studied in detail in
human medicine, but researches on animals were scarce. Apparently, further
studies are needed to elucidate the factors of production of leptin in animals.