The pancreatic
hormone preptin amplifies
glucose-mediated insulin secretion, and we investigated its circulating levels in patients with
essential hypertension and possible association with
carotid atherosclerosis. Ninety-eight patients were divided into hypertensive and control groups. Relationships between plasma
preptin levels, clinical parameters, and carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) were analyzed. Plasma
preptin levels were significantly lower in the hypertensive group than in the control group (1930.30±268.47 vs. 2182.88±325.81 pg/mL, P < 0.01). Simple linear regression analysis showed that systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and levels of serum
low-density lipoprotein (
LDL) and
cholesterol (CHOL) were related to plasma
preptin levels. Furthermore, multivariate linear regression analysis showed that SBP and serum CHOL levels were independent of plasma
preptin levels, which were inversely correlated with carotid artery IMT (r = -0.47, P < 0.01) in all subjects. Plasma
preptin levels of patients with carotid
atherosclerotic plaques were significantly lower than those of patients without plaques (1961.69±296.07 vs. 2117.97±322.52 pg/mL, P < 0.05). This preliminary study revealed that plasma
preptin levels are decreased in patients with
essential hypertension, negatively correlated with carotid artery IMT, and significantly lower in patients with carotid
atherosclerotic plaques. Therefore, decreased plasma
preptin level might play a role in
hypertension and its vascular complications.