The incidence of obesity is increasing all
Western Countries. This dramatically increasing in obesity prevalence has led
to an important increase of investigation on adipose tissue and its role in
metabolism, inflammation and other physiologic processes.
Obesity has a low grade systemic inflammation
and adipose tissue is considered an active secretory organ of a new family of molecules
called adipokines
(for example, leptin). Leptin is a protein containing 167 amino acids,
demonstrates structural similarities with cytokines and is mainly produced by
white adipose tissue.
Some studies have confirmed that other tissues
express leptin, including ovaries, placenta, stomach, pituitary, skeletal
muscle and liver. This adipokine acts as an afferent satiety signal, regulating
appetite in humans. Obese patients may be leptin resistant and are
characterized by high, rather than low, levels of leptin.
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