Sex Steroid Hormones Regulate Leptin Transcript Accumulation and Protein Secretion in 3T3-L1 Cells

Leptin is an adipokine produced by fat cells that regulates food consumption and metabolic activity. Sexual dimorphism in leptin and fat stores have been observed in humans and rodents with females having more leptin and greater levels of subcutaneous fat than males. One potential mechanism leading to this dimorphism is steroid hormone regulated synthesis of transcripts encoding leptin. Identification of direct regulatory mechanisms is difficult in animals or primary adipocytes due to these intertwined dimorphisms. We used well-characterized 3T3-L1 murine adipocytes to demonstrate that dihydrotestosterone (DHT) reduced Leptin (Lep) transcript abundance and cytosolic and secreted leptin protein. The magnitude of this effect was greatest on secreted leptin, which was decreased by DHT to 30% of the control. In contrast, 17β-estradiol significantly increased the abundance of transcripts encoding leptin and increased secreted leptin to 230% of the control. Treatment with estrogen and androgen receptor antagonists had opposite effects on Lep transcript abundance to steroid treatments, indicating that these transcriptional effects are mediated through the canonical steroid hormone signaling pathways. These results indicate that short-term treatments with steroid hormones are sufficient to alter both Lep transcript accumulation and leptin protein secretion, and may play a role in the sexual dimorphism of this adipokine.