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Using a Combination of Indirect Calorimetry, Infrared Thermography, and Blood Glucose Levels to Measure Brown Adipose Tissue Thermogenesis in Humans
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Leptin: Is It Thermogenic?

Alexander W Fischer1,2, Barbara Cannon1, Jan Nedergaard1

  • 1Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, The Arrhenius Laboratories F3, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.

Endocrine Reviews
|November 28, 2019
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Leptin deficiency causes obesity not due to reduced energy expenditure, but a calculation error. Leptin regulates body temperature, not thermogenesis, impacting obesity research.

Keywords:
ob/ob mousebody temperaturebrown adipose tissueenergy expenditureleptinthermogenesis

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Area of Science:

  • Endocrinology
  • Metabolic Research
  • Obesity Science

Background:

  • Leptin is a hormone regulating appetite and metabolism.
  • Leptin deficiency in animal models leads to obesity.
  • Obesity is often attributed to decreased energy expenditure (thermogenesis).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review experimental evidence for leptin's role in thermogenesis.
  • To re-evaluate the calculation methods used to assess energy expenditure in leptin-deficient models.
  • To clarify leptin's actual function in energy balance and body weight regulation.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of existing experimental data on leptin-deficient mice (ob/ob) and rats (fa/fa).
  • Critique of energy expenditure calculations based on body weight versus intact organism.
  • Examination of brown adipose tissue (BAT) and UCP1 expression in different mouse models.

Main Results:

  • Reported hypometabolism in leptin-deficient models is an artifact of expressing energy expenditure per body weight.
  • Leptin's body weight-reducing effects are not due to enhanced thermogenesis.
  • No consistent evidence of brown adipose tissue atrophy or reduced UCP1 in C57BL/6 ob/ob mice; reduced sympathetic activity observed.
  • Brown adipose tissue atrophy in outbred mice lacks demonstrated quantitative significance for obesity.

Conclusions:

  • Leptin is not a thermogenic hormone.
  • Leptin influences body temperature regulation by preventing torpor and altering thermoregulatory thresholds.
  • The central pathways mediating leptin's thermoregulatory effects require further investigation.