Circulating Spexin Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Fat Mass but Not with Physical Activity and Psychological Parameters in Women across a Broad Body Weight Spectrum

Suhs, Maria; Stengel, Andreas; Rudolph, Amelie; Schaper, Selina; Wölk, Ellen; Kobelt, Peter; Rose, Matthias; Hofmann, Tobias

doi:10.3390/jcm11175107

Open AccessArticle

Circulating Spexin Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Fat Mass but Not with Physical Activity and Psychological Parameters in Women across a Broad Body Weight Spectrum

by

Maria Suhs

^1,*,†

,

Andreas Stengel

^1,2,†,

Amelie Rudolph

¹

,

Selina Schaper

¹,

Ellen Wölk

¹,

Peter Kobelt

¹,

Matthias Rose

^1,3 and

Tobias Hofmann

¹

Charité Center for Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12203 Berlin, Germany

²

Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany

³

Quantitative Health Sciences, Outcomes Measurement Science, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11(17), 5107; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11175107

Submission received: 8 July 2022 / Revised: 19 August 2022 / Accepted: 27 August 2022 / Published: 30 August 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physical Activity, Exercise Testing and Clinical Assessment in Sports Medicine)

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Abstract

Spexin (SPX) is a novel, widely expressed peptide, with anorexigenic effects demonstrated in animal models and negatively correlated with body mass index (BMI) in humans. It increases locomotor activity in rodents and is elevated in human plasma following exercise. Studies have also shown an effect of stress and anxiety on SPX’s expression in different brain structures in animals. The relationships between plasma SPX and physical activity, body composition, and patient-reported outcomes such as perceived stress, depressiveness, anxiety, and eating behaviors are unknown and were examined in this study over a wide BMI range. A total of 219 female (n = 68 with anorexia nervosa; n = 79 with obesity; n = 72 with normal weight) inpatients were enrolled. Perceived stress (PSQ 20), anxiety (GAD 7), depressiveness (PHQ 9), and eating disorder pathology (EDI 2), as well as BMI, bioimpedance analysis, and accelerometry, were measured cross-sectionally at the beginning of treatment and correlated with plasma SPX levels (measured by ELISA) obtained at the same time. Plasma SPX levels were negatively associated with BMI (r = −0.149, p = 0.027) and body fat mass (r = −0.149, p = 0.04), but did not correlate with perceived stress, anxiety, depressiveness, eating behavior, energy expenditure, and physical activity (p > 0.05). The results replicate the negative correlation of SPX with BMI and fat mass, but do not support the hypothesis that peripheral SPX plays a role in the regulation of stress, depressiveness, anxiety, eating behavior, or physical activity.

Keywords: gut–brain axis; patient-reported outcome; psychoendocrinology; psychometric; psychosomatic stress

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MDPI and ACS Style

Suhs, M.; Stengel, A.; Rudolph, A.; Schaper, S.; Wölk, E.; Kobelt, P.; Rose, M.; Hofmann, T. Circulating Spexin Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Fat Mass but Not with Physical Activity and Psychological Parameters in Women across a Broad Body Weight Spectrum. J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11, 5107. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11175107

AMA Style

Suhs M, Stengel A, Rudolph A, Schaper S, Wölk E, Kobelt P, Rose M, Hofmann T. Circulating Spexin Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Fat Mass but Not with Physical Activity and Psychological Parameters in Women across a Broad Body Weight Spectrum. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2022; 11(17):5107. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11175107

Chicago/Turabian Style

Suhs, Maria, Andreas Stengel, Amelie Rudolph, Selina Schaper, Ellen Wölk, Peter Kobelt, Matthias Rose, and Tobias Hofmann. 2022. "Circulating Spexin Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Fat Mass but Not with Physical Activity and Psychological Parameters in Women across a Broad Body Weight Spectrum" Journal of Clinical Medicine 11, no. 17: 5107. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11175107

APA Style

Suhs, M., Stengel, A., Rudolph, A., Schaper, S., Wölk, E., Kobelt, P., Rose, M., & Hofmann, T. (2022). Circulating Spexin Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Fat Mass but Not with Physical Activity and Psychological Parameters in Women across a Broad Body Weight Spectrum. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 11(17), 5107. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11175107

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Circulating Spexin Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Fat Mass but Not with Physical Activity and Psychological Parameters in Women across a Broad Body Weight Spectrum

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