[Beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin in the pathogenesis of obesity]

The blood beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin content was studied by radioimmunoassay in patients with obesity of different degree and healthy subjects with normal body weights. It was shown that the blood beta-endorphin concentration rises depending on the body weight growth, promoting the intensified insulin secretion and obesity development. beta-Lipotropin level was significantly augmented in patients with the 3d and 4th stages of obesity. The intensified beta-lipotropin secretion, stimulating lipolysis, may be considered as a compensatory mechanism, tending to return to normal fat metabolism in the originated pathological conditions. Comparison of beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin levels in the blood of obese patients suggests that obesity is not only marked by hormonal disorders, producing obesity progression but also by the formation of adaptive mechanisms, directed at compensation of the pathological process.