Background: The mechanisms by which fetal weight are regulated during pregnancy are poorly understood. The relation between hormones such as leptin and adiponectin and intrautrine growth is still under investigation. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether fetal growth restriction is associated with alterations of leptin and adiponectin  concentrations in venous umbilical cord blood and maternal serum.
Methods: Maternal serum and venous umbilical cord blood leptin and adiponectin concentrations were determined by ELISA after 36 week of gestational age in 22 women with uncomplicated singleton pregnancies with AGA fetuses (group A) and in 22 women with singleton pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction but without fetal distress (group B), all with normal body mass index and without history of diabetes, hypertention or maternal cardiac disease.
Results: Venous umbilical cord leptin levels were significantly lower in group B compared with group A (8.1±0.8ng/ml versus 39.45±6.8ng/ml; p=0.001). Venous umbilical cord adiponectin levels were also significantly lower in group B compared with group A (28.8±3.5μg/ml versus 43.6±3.7μg/ml; p=0.007). Maternal serum leptin and adiponectin did not differ between SGA and AGA groups.maternal BMI, gestational age and maternal age did not differ between these two groups. Neither leptin nor adiponectin correlated with gender difference.
Conclusion: In this study we confirmed that growth restricted fetuses show venous umbilical cord blood leptin and adiponectin concentrations were significantly lower than those in normal fetuses indicating that these two adipokines have an independent role in growth restriction pathogenesis. Maybe in future we can administer recombinant human leptin and adiponectin to growth restricted fetuses for treatment.