{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T02:58:49Z","timestamp":1760151529806,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,30]],"date-time":"2022-03-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648598400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, Pavia Italy","award":["Proj. 854; cod 08066315; 854-rcr2015 bis11"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Proj. 854; cod 08066315; 854-rcr2015 bis11"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Leptin is a hormone regulating lifetime energy homeostasis and metabolism and its concentration is important starting from prenatal life. We aimed to investigate the association of perinatal leptin concentrations with growth trajectories during the first year of life. Methods: Prospective, longitudinal study, measuring leptin concentration in maternal plasma before delivery, cord blood (CB), and mature breast milk and correlating their impact on neonate\u2019s bodyweight from birth to 1 year of age, in 16 full-term (FT), 16 preterm (PT), and 13 intrauterine growth-restricted (IUGR) neonates. Results: Maternal leptin concentrations were highest in the PT group, followed by IUGR and FT, with no statistical differences among groups (p = 0.213). CB leptin concentrations were significantly higher in FT compared with PT and IUGR neonates (PT vs. FT; IUGR vs. FT: p &lt; 0.001). Maternal milk leptin concentrations were low, with no difference among groups. Maternal leptin and milk concentrations were negatively associated with all the neonates\u2019 weight changes (p = 0.017 and p = 0.006), while the association with CB leptin was not significant (p = 0.051). Considering each subgroup individually, statistical analysis confirmed the previous results in PT and IUGR infants, with the highest value in the PT subgroup. In addition, this group\u2019s results negatively correlated with CB leptin (p = 0.026) and showed the largest % weight increase. Conclusions: Leptin might play a role in neonatal growth trajectories, characterized by an inverse correlation with maternal plasma and milk. PT infants showed the highest correlation with hormone levels, regardless of source, seeming the most affected group by leptin guidance. Low leptin levels appeared to contribute to critical neonates\u2019 ability to recover a correct body weight at 1 year. An eventual non-physiological \u201ccatch-up growth\u201d should be monitored, and leptin perinatal levels may be an indicative tool. Further investigations are needed to strengthen the results.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu14071451","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,30]],"date-time":"2022-03-30T21:28:39Z","timestamp":1648675719000},"page":"1451","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Leptin Levels of the Perinatal Period Shape Offspring\u2019s Weight Trajectories through the First Year of Age"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3710-966X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesca","family":"Garofoli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Neonatal Unit and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2715-0685","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Iolanda","family":"Mazzucchelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, Universit\u00e0 di Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Micol","family":"Angelini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neonatal Unit and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0314-8548","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catherine","family":"Klersy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0130-915X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Virginia Valeria","family":"Ferretti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Barbara","family":"Gardella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giulia Vittoria","family":"Carletti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Arsenio","family":"Spinillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chryssoula","family":"Tzialla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neonatal Unit and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Stefano","family":"Ghirardello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Neonatal Unit and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"425","DOI":"10.1038\/372425a0","article-title":"Positional cloning of the mouse obese gene and its human homologue","volume":"372","author":"Zhang","year":"1994","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"875","article-title":"Leptin as a breast milk component for the prevention of obesity","volume":"76","author":"Palou","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nutr. 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