Sinkala M, Kaile T, Chileya S, Marimo C, Korolova L, Kwenda G, SIjumbila G. (September 2014). Plasma insulin and fatty acid synthase levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Jour of Med Sc & Tech; 3(3); Page No: 123 – 129. J Med. Sci. Tech. Volume 3. Issue 3 ISSN: 1694-1217 JMST. An open access journal © RA Publications Page123 Journal of Medical Science & Technology Original Article Open Access Plasma insulin and fatty acid synthase levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Musalula Sinkala 1 , Trevor Kaile 1 , Sandra Chileya 2 , Clemence Marimo 1 , Lydia Korolova 1 , Geoffrey Kwenda 3 , Gibson Sijumbila 1* 1 University of Zambia, School of Medicine, Department of Pathology and Microbiology Lusaka, Zambia 2 University of Zambia, School of Medicine, Department of Physiological Sciences, Lusaka, Zambia 3 University of Zambia, School of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Lusaka, Zambia Abstract Fatty acid metabolism is generally under regulation of hormones and nutritional status. Insulin being an anabolic hormone promotes synthesis of fatty acids and triglycerides, whereas insulin deficiency tends to increase mobilisation of fatty acids from triacylglycerols and increase fatty acid oxidation . Fatty acids are synthesized by fatty acid synthase (FASN) complex in mammalian cells. We carried out an analytical cross sectional study to find out the link between serum insulin and serum FASN levels. A total of 44 participants, 22 with type 2diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and 22 normal non-diabetic controls were recruited. Serum insulin and circulating FASN were assessed in T2DM patients and non-diabetic control subjects. Our results showed that diabetics have significantly higher insulin and FASN levels (p< 0.0001 and p = 0.018 respectively) than non-diabetics. Insulin levels were found to be significantly correlated to FASN in controls(r = 0.476, p = 0.034). A non-significant correlation between serum insulin and circulating FASN was observed in diabetic participants (r = 0.333) (p = 0.139. In conclusion our results suggest that hyperinsulinaemia is a feature of T2DM and insulin increases serum concentration of FASN; hence the increased levels of serum FASN in diabetics with hyperinsulinaemia. Increased levels of FASN in turn stimulate lipogenesis which is responsible for some of the complications of diabetes mellitus. Therefore increased serum FASN may be a useful marker of glucose intolerance due to insulin resistance. Key words: Diabetes mellitus, Insulin, Fatty acid synthase, Triglycerides *Corresponding Author: Dr Gibson Sijumbila, Department of Physiological Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia. E- mail: gibson.sijumbila@unza.zm . Phone: +260979 325 149. Received: June 18, 2014 Accepted: August 04, 2014. Published: September 20, 2014. This is an open- access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both[1]. Blood glucose levels are controlled in part by insulin, a hormone in the body that helps move glucose from the blood to muscles and other tissues. The two types of diabetes are referred to as type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). T1DM results from inadequate insulin secretion by the pancreas and T2DM results from either deficiency or lack of responsiveness to insulin. An estimate of 371 million people had diabetes in 2012, which accounts for approximately 5.3% of the global population. The number of people with T2DM is increasing in every country and its has been estimated that by 2030 this will have risen to 552 million. There has been substantial migration of people from rural to urban areas in Zambia. This movement of people from rural to urban areas in part accounts for the increasing cases of T2DM as other studies suggested[2, 3]. Obesity due to inactivity or unhealthy diet is one of the factors why rural-urban migration has seen increased prevalence of T2DM. Uncontrolled diabetes mellitus leads to serious long-term complications which include cardiovascular diseases (doubled risk), chronic renal failure, retinal damage (which can lead to blindness), nerve damage (of several kinds), and microvascular damage, which may cause impotence and poor wound healing. T2DM individuals are usually obese, and they manifest with insulin resistance,