Effect of medroxyprogesterone on arterial blood gases, leptin and neuropeptide Y in postmenopausal females

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Neuropeptide Y in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Natural progesterone, a potent respiratory stimulant, stimulates leptin production in premenopausal females.

Leptin and its counterpart neuropeptide Y (NPY) have recently been linked with respiration.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are older adults, women only.

Fourteen postmenopausal females with respiratory impairment, due mostly to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, were recruited for a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial.

Arterial blood gases, serum leptin and NPY concentrations were measured at baseline and after 14 days of treatment with placebo and MPA, separated by a 6-week washout period.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Because people in this Neuropeptide Y study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Neuropeptide Y, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Neuropeptide Y could be set against what happens without it.

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both Neuropeptide Y and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

The timeline in the abstract includes 14 days.

The effect of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) on arterial blood gases, serum leptin and NPY was evaluated in this study.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Carbon Dioxide, Leptin, Medroxyprogesterone, Neuropeptide Y, Oxygen, Postmenopause and Progesterone Congeners.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Neuropeptide Y over 14 days.

The publication is from 2002 (The European respiratory journal), a journal based in England.

More context: the Neuropeptide Y compound page, all human trials.