Leptin and adiponectin in the female life course

Abstract

Adipose tissue secretes a variety of adipokines, including leptin and adiponectin, which are involved in endocrine processes regulating glucose and fatty metabolism, energy expenditure, inflammatory response, immunity, cardiovascular function, and reproduction. The present article describes the fluctuations in circulating leptin and adiponectin as well as their patterns of secretion in women from birth to menopause. During pregnancy, leptin and adiponectin seem to act in an autocrine/paracrine fashion in the placenta and adipose tissue, playing a role in the maternal-fetal interface and contributing to glucose metabolism and fetal development. In newborns, adiponectin levels are two to three times higher than in adults. Full-term newborns have significantly higher leptin and adiponectin levels than preterms, whereas small-for-gestational-age infants have lower levels of these adipokines than adequate-for-gestational-age newborns. However, with weight gain, leptin concentrations increase significantly. Children between 5 and 8 years of age experience an increase in leptin and a decrease in adiponectin regardless of body mass index, with a reversal of the newborn pattern for adiponectin: plasma adiponectin levels at age five are inversely correlated with percentage of body fat. In puberty, leptin plays a role in the regulation of menstrual cycles. In adults, it has been suggested that obese individuals exhibit both leptin resistance and decreased serum adiponectin levels. In conclusion, a progressive increase in adiposity throughout life seems to influence the relationship between leptin and adiponectin in women

Aging human body: changes in bone, muscle and body fat with consequent changes in nutrient intake

“…Adiponectin is involved in fat metabolism and may inhibit obesity by increasing fatty acid oxidation in adipose tissue by activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation and in muscle by P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) alpha (Yoon et al 2006, Lecke et al 2011, Ghoshal & Bhattacharyya 2015. Furthermore, adiponectin has anti-inflammatory effects inhibiting the action of TNF-α and IL-8 (Ghoshal & Bhattacharyya 2015).…”

Association between adipose tissue expression and serum levels of leptin and adiponectin in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

“…In turn, adiponectin increases fatty acid oxidation in adipose tissue, liver and muscle, enhancing insulin sensitivity, and inhibits inflammatory mediators and the expression of adhesion molecules within the vascular wall, lowering atherogenic risk (Chen et al, 2006;Michalakis and Segars, 2010). In women, the progressive increase in adiposity that occurs with age seems to influence the relationship between leptin and adiponectin: serum adiponectin levels decrease, while circulating leptin levels markedly increase with body fat mass (Lecke et al, 2011b).…”

Insights into the putative role of leptin in various traversing stages of women: A narrative review

“…Leptin acts as a satiety hormone as well as cell signaling hormone which is involved in regulation of body weight control through obstruction of food intake and amplification of energy expenditure (Blüher et al, 2007;Lecke et al, 2011). Two nucleus in the hypothalamus PVN (paraventricular nucleus) and ARC (arcuate nucleus) are responsible for maintaining homeostasis in our body (Gautron and Elmquist, 2011;Park and Ahima, 2015;Stieg et al, 2015).…”