Leptin and its role in the neuroendocrinology of obesity

Abstract

Leptin is a hormone known to participate in multiple biological functions. This due to the signaling that exerts at hypothalamic level producing a stimulation of satiety, balance in the expenditure of energy and with it an adequate control of body weight. In recent years, a significant increase in mortality of Mexican population rates has been reported, positioning this disease as one of the main causes of death, due to the development of comorbidities associated with its pathology. The participation of leptin as a pleiotropic hormone with crucial properties for the development of overweight and obesity has been studied. It is observed that alterations in its receptor predispose to a leptin resistance that leads to a poor response in the stimulation of satiety and, in turn, an increase in food consumption. Other studies suggest that diets with a high-caloric content produce a hyperactivation in the cerebral cortex associated with the sense of taste, generating a rewarding stimulus that induces a greater consumption of food, leading gradually to an increase of body adipose tissue. Research of exogenous leptin administration in mice has shown a temporary decrease in body weight with a decrease in food consumption. Therefore, it is important to describe and analyze the involvement of leptin in neuroendocrine signaling of obesity, obtaining a greater understanding of the disease. The present manuscript is intended to describe this topic for educational purposes.