Author: Banks, W.A.

Source: Current Drug Metabolism, Volume 7, Number 2, 1 January 2001 , pp. 125-133(9)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

Leptin has emerged as a major regulator of adiposity. Leptin is released into the blood from fat cells and circulates to the brain where it crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to act at receptors within the central nervous system to affect appetite, thermogenesis, and a number of other actions. In humans and in many rodent models, resistance to leptin appears to be a chief cause of obesity. Determining the cause of leptin resistance is fundamental to developing strategies for the use of leptin in obesity. The literature characterizing the transport of leptin across the BBB is reviewed. This literature strongly suggests that the cause of leptin resistance is due a decreased transport of leptin across the BBB in obese humans and rodents. The main cause of this resistance appears to be an impairment in the activity of the transporter rather than just simply saturation at higher doses. Strategies to overcome impaired BBB transport are reviewed, including the use of allosteric regulators and the delivery of material by the intrathecal route.

Keywords: Leptin Transport; Blood Brain Barrier; Intrathecal route; Blood borne leptin; Leptin treated animals; Autoradiography of brain; Circumventricular organs; Arcuate nucleus

Document Type: Review article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1381612013398310

Publication date: 2001-01-01

More about this publication?

• Current Pharmaceutical Design publishes timely in-depth reviews covering all aspects of current research in rational drug design. Each issue is devoted to a single major therapeutic area. A Guest Editor who is an acknowledged authority in a therapeutic field has solicits for each issue comprehensive and timely reviews from leading researchers in the pharmaceutical industry and academia.
  
  Each thematic issue of Current Pharmaceutical Design covers all subject areas of major importance to modern drug design, including: medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, drug targets and disease mechanism.

Related content

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Pharmacology
• By this author: Banks, W.A.

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers