The relationship between serum total sialic acid levels and adenosine deaminase activity in obesity.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between serum adenosine deaminase (AD) activity and serum total sialic acid (TSA) levels in obese individuals. METHODS We performed this study at the Department of Chemistry, Division Biochemistry, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University Arts and Science Faculty, Turkey from 2003 to 2004. Fifty obese subjects and 25 non-obese healthy controls were included in the study. The serum AD activity and TSA concentrations were measured by spectrophotometric methods. RESULTS The AD activity (p<0.01) and TSA concentrations (p<0.001) were significantly higher in the sera of obese subjects than those of non-obese control subjects. But, there was no statistically significant difference in the serum TSA levels and AD activity of the obese subjects with metabolic syndrome properties compared with those without metabolic syndrome properties. A significant correlation between the serum TSA and AD was found in the obese subjects (p<0.05, r: 0.33). CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that there may be a closer interaction between the inflammatory events and obesity. However, our observations need to be confirmed by further studies to understand more regarding the underlying mechanisms.