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The role of leptin and low testosterone in obesity

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 34, pages 704–713 (2022)Cite this article

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A Correction to this article was published on 08 March 2022

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Abstract

Obesity is a medical condition associated with metabolic disorders and low-grade systemic inflammation. Another characterizing feature of obesity is high circulating levels of leptin (a hormone predominantly made by adipose cells and enterocytes in the small intestine that helps to regulate energy balance), a phenomenon termed hyperleptinemia. Hyperleptinemia is associated with both low-grade systemic inflammation and metabolic dysfunction in obese human beings. Moreover, obesity is associated with low testosterone in men, which correlates with high body fat. The association between leptin and low testosterone could potentially be explained via the imbalanced leptin levels that results in higher estrogen levels, which further increases the aromatase activity. The increase in aromatase activity in turn reciprocally inhibits the testosterone levels and hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis. Novel strategies are being used to treat obesity, including leptin and testosterone therapy. However, the efficacy and adverse effects of these strategies need further validation through preclinical and clinical studies. Additionally, further studies are needed to establish the molecular mechanism behind leptin-modulated changes to testosterone in obese men. This review summarizes the available literature on the role of leptin and low testosterone during obesity.

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Fig. 1: Schematic representation shows the leptin action in obesity.
Fig. 2: Illustration showing the various interactions between leptin and obesity [204].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Kajal Khodamoradi, Deepa Seetharam, Natoli Farber & Himanshu Arora

  2. Clinical Research Development Unit, Amiralmomenin Hospital, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran

    Zahra Khosravizadeh

  3. Department of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, Yogi Vemanan University, Kadapa, India

    Suresh Mallepalli

  4. John P Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Himanshu Arora

  5. The Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Himanshu Arora

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KK: Conception & design of the work, Drafting the article; ZKh: Drafting the article, Data collection; DS: Drafting the article, Searching the literature, Data collection; SM: Drafting the article, Searching the literature, Data collection; NF: Drafting the article, Searching the literature, Data collection; HA: Conception of the work & project administration, Critical revision of the article, Final approval of the version. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Khodamoradi, K., Khosravizadeh, Z., Seetharam, D. et al. The role of leptin and low testosterone in obesity. Int J Impot Res 34, 704–713 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41443-022-00534-y

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