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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Flagrante Delictu who wrote (16360)	3/4/1998 5:54:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 32384

Here's more on leptin: Wednesday March 4 1:09 PM EST Leptin Influences Baby's Growth NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Leptin, the "obesity hormone," may play a role in fetal development and growth during infancy, according to a new report. Researchers led by Dr. Ingrid Helland of the Institute for Nutrition Research at the University of Oslo in Norway, say their study findings "suggest that leptin is produced by (the) placenta and that this hormone is of metabolic importance during pregnancy and infancy." Reports of leptin's potential role in weight gain first appeared in 1995. Scientists believe the hormone is manufactured by fat cells and may play a role in metabolism and appetite. Initial hopes that leptin might help control obesity were dampened by subsequent studies which revealed that overweight individuals tended to lose their sensitivity to the hormone as their weight increased. The Norwegian research, published in the online electronic pages of the journal Pediatrics (http://www.pediatrics.org), focused on leptin levels found in the blood of pregnant women, in umbilical cords, and in blood samples drawn from 4- and 14-week-old infants. The researchers discovered that blood leptin levels increased in pregnant women during weeks 18 to 35 of pregnancy, concurrent with natural increases in body mass. Much of this leptin production occurred in the placenta, and the investigators believe this strengthens previous theories that "the placenta might be the major source of leptin production for the fetus." The researchers also discovered that, for reasons that remain unclear, newborn "boys had only 70% of the leptin concentration compared with girls" in blood samples drawn from umbilical cords. They speculate that "it is possible that leptin is an important factor in the regulation of growth during intrauterine life." Leptin may also help dictate the growth of newborns. The Norwegian team say they detected moderate increases in the blood leptin levels of newborns during the first few months of infancy, "probably... caused by a rapid increase of total body fat." SOURCE: Pediatrics electronic pages (1998;101(3):e12)