{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,13]],"date-time":"2026-05-13T17:07:54Z","timestamp":1778692074635,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,23]],"date-time":"2022-08-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1661212800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"government grants to the School of Medicine and the Direcci\u00f3n de Investigaci\u00f3n y Extensi\u00f3n sede Bogot\u00e1 (DIEB) of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia","award":["51295"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51295"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Liver-Expressed Antimicrobial Peptide 2 (LEAP-2) has emerged as an endogenous GHS-R antagonist and blunts the orexigenic action of ghrelin. This study aimed to determine the Ghrelin\/LEAP-2 ratio in humans and rats during pregnancy. In humans, we conducted a nested case-control study within an observational prospective cohort. Healthy and mild preeclamptic pregnant women were studied at each trimester of gestation and three months postpartum. In addition, a group of non-pregnant women was studied into the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Furthermore, Ghrelin\/LEAP-2 ratio was investigated in non-pregnant rats and at different periods of rat pregnancy. Human and rat serum ghrelin and LEAP-2 levels were determined using the commercially available ELISA kits. The Ghrelin\/LEAP-2 ratio peak around the second trimester of gestation in healthy pregnant women (p &lt; 0.05). Additionally, there were no statistically significant differences in Ghrelin\/LEAP-2 ratio between healthy and preeclamptic pregnant women at each trimester of gestation (p &gt; 0.05). The Ghrelin\/LEAP-2 ratio in pregnant rat reached the peak around mid-gestation with a similar pattern to the human pregnancy. LEAP-2 was visualized by immunohistochemistry in human term placenta and rat placentas on days 12, 16 and 21 of pregnancy. In conclusion, this study provides the first evidence of a Ghrelin\/LEAP-2 ratio peak around the half-way point of pregnancy onwards during human and rat pregnancy, and it might be associated with increased rates of weight gain during pregnancy. Thus, this study suggests that LEAP-2 and Ghrelin\/LEAP-2 ratio might play an important role in maternal physiology adaptation of weight gain during pregnancy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms23179514","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,23]],"date-time":"2022-08-23T21:05:12Z","timestamp":1661288712000},"page":"9514","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Study of the Ghrelin\/LEAP-2 Ratio in Humans and Rats during Different Phases of Pregnancy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9834-9291","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria Fernanda","family":"Garc\u00e9s","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3000-2440","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Julieth Daniela","family":"Buell-Acosta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8302-5841","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edith","family":"\u00c1ngel-M\u00fcller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2810-287X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Arturo Jos\u00e9","family":"Parada-Ba\u00f1os","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jaidy","family":"Acosta-Alvarez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Morphology, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Harold Felipe","family":"Saavedra-L\u00f3pez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrinology Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Roberto","family":"Franco-Vega","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrinology Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Luis Miguel","family":"Maldonado-Acosta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrinology Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0561-4883","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Franklin","family":"Escobar-Cordoba","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Psychiatry Department, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"},{"name":"Fundaci\u00f3n Sue\u00f1o Vigilia Colombiana, Bogot\u00e1 111211, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Keydy","family":"V\u00e1squez-Romero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Biomodelos CeBio, Departamento de Ciencias Biol\u00f3gicas, Universidad de los Andes, Bogot\u00e1 111711, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6731-9820","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ezequiel","family":"Lacunza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaciones Inmunol\u00f3gicas B\u00e1sicas y Aplicadas (CINIBA), Facultad de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata 1900, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sof\u00eda Alexandra","family":"Caminos-Cepeda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, 08002 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9976-9930","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rub\u00e9n","family":"Nogueiras","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIBER Fisiopatolog\u00eda de la Obesidad y Nutrici\u00f3n, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Physiology (CIMUS), School of Medicine, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias (IDIS), Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Carlos","family":"Di\u00e9guez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIBER Fisiopatolog\u00eda de la Obesidad y Nutrici\u00f3n, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Physiology (CIMUS), School of Medicine, Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias (IDIS), Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7158-4742","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ariel Iv\u00e1n","family":"Ruiz-Parra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jorge Eduardo","family":"Caminos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogot\u00e1 11001, Colombia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2022, June 15). 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