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Differential Effects of Undernourishment and Nutritional Rehabilitation on Serum Leptin Levels in Male and Female Rats

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Abstract

Leptin, a peptide hormone, is secreted by adipose tissue and is crucial to the regulation of feeding behaviour. The present study has shown that both male and female rats which have been undernourished since day six of gestation, show significantly decreased serum leptin levels on postnatal day 12; but when undernourishment continues into adulthood, only males continue to show decreased leptin levels. If nutritional rehabilitation is implemented early enough in males, serum leptin levels recover and nearly reach levels found in control adult males. Undernutrition also has a long term effect on body weight in both sexes, but nutritional rehabilitation leads to some degree of body weight recovery varying with sex and the age at which rehabilitation was implemented. Undernutrition seems to affect different developmental processes in males than in females, with males being more vulnerable than females in so far as long-term effects on serum leptin levels.

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Acknowledgments

The present work was supported by DGICYT grant: BSO2003–2526 (PC). We are grateful to Mr. L. Troca, Mr. L. Carrillo, Mr. A. Marcos and Mr. G. Moreno for their technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Psicobiología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, C/ Juan del Rosal, 10, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Helena Pinos, Beatriz Carrillo, Mari Ángeles Pérez-Izquierdo & Paloma Collado

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Avda. de Madrid s/n, Granada, Spain

    Esperanza Ortega

Authors
  1. Helena Pinos
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  2. Esperanza Ortega
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  3. Beatriz Carrillo
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  4. Mari Ángeles Pérez-Izquierdo
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  5. Paloma Collado
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Correspondence to Paloma Collado.

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Pinos, H., Ortega, E., Carrillo, B. et al. Differential Effects of Undernourishment and Nutritional Rehabilitation on Serum Leptin Levels in Male and Female Rats. Neurochem Res 32, 407–413 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-006-9240-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-006-9240-6

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