Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Plasma leptin levels rise in obese dogs in studies
By K. Ishioka et al.·Published in Journal of Veterinary Medical Science·2002·View original on Semantic Scholar →
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Original publication title: Experimental and clinical studies on plasma leptin in obese dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of obese dogs, including beagles, were studied to understand the role of a protein called leptin, which is linked to body fat. The researchers found that as the dogs gained weight, their leptin levels increased significantly, indicating a strong connection between leptin and obesity. In clinical settings, obese dogs had much higher leptin levels compared to dogs at a healthy weight. This suggests that measuring leptin could help veterinarians assess obesity in dogs more accurately.
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Abstract
Leptin is a protein synthesized and secreted primarily by adipocytes, and the circulating leptin concentration is elevated in obese humans and rodents. Recently, we have established a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for canine leptin. In the present study, plasma leptin concentrations were measured in experimentally developed obese beagles and in clinically obese dogs. When 5 male beagles were given a high-energy diet for 3 months, all of them became obese and the plasma leptin concentration significantly increased from 2.4+/-1.2 to 4.9+/-0.9 ng/ml, positively correlating with body fat content estimated by the deuterium oxide dilution method (r=0.87). The leptin concentrations of plasma samples collected from 59 dogs in veterinary practices were compared with their body condition scores (BCS). The plasma leptin concentrations of obese dogs were 9.7+/-0.7 and 12.3+/-1.5 ng/ml at BCS=4 and BCS=5, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of optimal (BCS=3) dogs (2.7+/-0.3 ng/ml). There was no significant effect of sex and breed. A weak positive correlation (r=0.37) was found between the plasma leptin concentration and age, probably due to the lesser content of visceral fat in puppies younger than 1 year old. These results indicate that plasma leptin is a good index of adiposity in dogs regardless of breed, age and sex, and may be useful for quantitative assessment of obesity in small animal practice.
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Search related cases →Original publication on Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/12014581