Chronic leptin treatment does not prevent the development of obesity in transgenic mice with brown fat deficiency

With the exception of ob/ob mice, circulating plasma leptin is elevated in all other obese rodents as well as in obese humans, suggesting that leptin resistance rather than leptin deficiency is a characteristic feature of obesity. The exact molecular mechanisms leading to leptin resistance and the applicability of exogenous leptin to overcome resistance to the anorectic effect of the hormone, are insufficiently characterized. The aim of this study was to investigate whether chronic leptin administration could prevent the development of obesity and its associated disorders in transgenic mice with toxigene mediated ablation of brown adipose tissue (BAT). Daily injections of leptin were started at the age of 6 weeks, when body weight, food intake and plasma leptin levels of transgenics were not different from control mice. Over the next 6 weeks, leptin treated transgenics showed the same excessive body weight gain as transgenic mice injected with saline. Leptin treatment was furthermore not able to prevent the development of hyperphagia, hyperglycaemia, hyperinsulinaemia and hyperlipidaemia in transgenic mice. In contrast, control mice injected with leptin had significantly lower body weight, food intake and plasma triglycerides than those treated with saline. In summary, leptin treatment was not able to prevent the development of obesity and its associated abnormalities in transgenic mice with BAT deficiency. This data suggests that intact BAT function is of critical importance for leptin's effect on food intake and energy expenditure, and that primary dysfunction of BAT is associated with leptin resistance, even when hyperleptinaemia is not yet present.