Association of Relapse of Multiple Sclerosis with Increased Serum Levels of Leptin and Decreased Aerobic Capacity in Women

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating autoimmune disease, with an unclear mechanism, and characterized by axonal damage, demyelination and increase inflammatory. Recently, it has been found that leptin plays a role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. The current study aimed to compare serum level of leptin and aerobic capacity in relapsing and remitting duration in women with multiple sclerosis.
32 women with multiple sclerosis including 12 in relapsing and 20 in remitting phases participated in this study. Serum level of leptin was assessed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit and aerobic capacity was measured using ergometer cycle incremental test. Independent t and Pearson correlation tests were used for data analysis at the significant level of P ≤ 0.05.
Findings: Data indicated that leptin was higher in relapsing group; but, aerobic capacity was higher in remitting group (P ≤ 0.05). In addition, a negative and significant correlation was observed between leptin and aerobic capacity in both groups and leptin and body mass index in remitting group (P ≤ 0.05).
According to the result, increasing of leptin and decreasing of aerobic capacity associated with relapsing in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.