The incidence of obesity is increasing all Western Countries.
This dramatically increasing in obesity prevalence has led to an important
increase of investigation on adipose tissue and its role in metabolism,
inflammation and other physiologic processes.
Obesity has a low grade systemic inflammation and adipose
tissue is considered an active secretory organ of a new family of
molecules called
adipokines (for example, leptin). Leptin is a protein containing 167 amino
acids, demonstrates structural similarities with cytokines and is mainly
produced by white adipose tissue.
Some studies have confirmed that other tissues express
leptin, including ovaries, placenta, stomach, pituitary, skeletal muscle and
liver.
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