Leptin replacement therapy is used to alter the brain responses to food cravings in leptin-deficient adults. It’s a treatment for hereditary obesity which is not associated with the usage of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). FDA recently approved the therapy to treat obese people.
Leptin plays a key role to regulate energy balance, metabolism, body weight and endocrine functions. Moreover, leptin level is very low or undetectable in patients with hypothalamic amenorrhea, lipodystrophy and CLD.
Tuncay Delibasi – a renowned professor from the Department of Endocrinology, Diskapi Hospital, Turkey is now doing amazing trials on the advanced level of leptin replacement therapy for obesity.
Areas of use:
- Leptin therapy is mainly used to treat obesity, specifically related to hereditary leptin deficiency.
- Leptin is now medically approved for lipodystrophy – a model for usual obesity.
- Typical obesity can resist leptin, but it may be valuable in conjunction with some other therapies or after weight loss.
When a missense mutation occurs in the “ob” gene and produces a different amino acid than the usual one, leptin deficiency occurs and that leads to morbid obesity.
With this missense mutation, standard body weight and food behavior – leptin replacement shows us a few interesting things:
fMRI (Functional magnetic resonance imaging) is paired with the presentation of food cues – to view some of the food-related stimuli.
- Leptin replacement reduces the brain activation in the regions that are directly linked to hunger – insula, parietal & temporal cortex. However, it enhances the activation of the parts linked to inhibition & satiety – the prefrontal cortex.
- Leptin modulates feeding behaviors through these above-mentioned circuits. These are the main suggestive therapeutic areas to treat human obesity.
