Acute and prolonged administration of glucocorticoids (methylprednisolone) does not affect plasma leptin concentration in humans

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of glucocorticoid administration on leptin in humans. DESIGN: A 30 min IV infusion of methylprednisolone (METH, 125 mg) or placebo (PLAC) followed by 4 d of oral administration of METH (40 mg/d) or PLAC. Easting plasma glucose, free-fatty acids (FFA), insulin and leptin concentrations were measured at baseline, 210 min after the beginning of the IV infusion and after 4 d of oral treatment. SUBJECTS: Twenty healthy non-diabetic male volunteers (27+/-5 y, 72+/-9 kg, 20+/-7% body fat; means+/-s.d.) fed a weight maintenance diet and randomly assigned to METH (n=10) or PLAC (n=10) treatment. RESULTS: At baseline, leptin was positively correlated with % body fat in the 20 subjects (r=0.53; P<0.02). Acute METH administration significantly increased fasting plasma glucose (P<0.01), but had no effect on insulin, FFA or leptin concentrations as compared to PLAC. Prolonged METH administration significantly increased fasting plasma insulin P<0.05), but had no effect on glucose, FFA or leptin concentrations as compared to PLAC. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that in relatively lean individuals, the administration of therapeutic doses of methylprednisolone does not change plasma leptin concentration.