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DIFFERENTIAL CONTROL OF THE SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM BY LEPTIN: IMPLICATIONS FOR OBESITY
Author(s) -
Rahmouni Kamal
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
clinical and experimental pharmacology and physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1440-1681
pISSN - 0305-1870
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1681.2007.04760.x
Subject(s) - leptin , sympathetic nervous system , endocrinology , medicine , appetite , baroreflex , obesity , blood pressure , adipose tissue , hypothermia , heart rate
SUMMARY1 Leptin is a hormone that is secreted by adipocytes and delivered to the brain to regulate appetite and energy expenditure. Other effects of leptin include activation of the sympathetic nervous system and an increase in arterial pressure. 2 Mounting evidence suggests that the sympathetic nervous system subserving different tissues is differentially controlled by leptin. For instance, leptin‐induced regional increases in sympathetic nerve activity do not respond uniformly to baroreflex activation and hypothermia. 3 In several mouse models of obesity, the ability of leptin to increase renal sympathetic nerve activity is preserved, despite resistance to leptin's effect on food intake, bodyweight and thermogenic sympathetic tone. Furthermore, obese mice also retain the increase in arterial pressure in response to leptin. 4 Although they display a lack of metabolic responses to leptin, animal models of obesity preserve renal sympathetic and arterial pressure responses that potentially cause the adverse cardiovascular consequences of obesity. Thus, it is possible that excess leptin contributes to cardiovascular complications, even when a subject shows metabolic resistance to leptin.