Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Sep 26, 2015; 7(9): 511-524
Published online Sep 26, 2015. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v7.i9.511
Lean heart: Role of leptin in cardiac hypertrophy and metabolism
Michael E Hall, Romain Harmancey, David E Stec
Michael E Hall, Department of Medicine/Division of Cardiology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216, United States
Michael E Hall, Romain Harmancey, David E Stec, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216, United States
Michael E Hall, Romain Harmancey, David E Stec, Center for Excellence in Cardiovascular-Renal Research, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216, United States
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this manuscript.
Supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Nos. PO1HL-051971 and R00HL112952; and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, No. P20GM-104357; and the American Heart Association, No. 14SDG20490339.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no financial conflict of interest including: fees for serving as a speaker or as consultant and/or an adcisory bord member. Ownership of any stocks and/or shares or patents releted to research had ribed in this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: David E Stec, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216, United States. dstec@umc.edu
Telephone: +1-601-8151859 Fax: +1-601-9841817
Received: April 2, 2015
Peer-review started: April 3, 2015
First decision: June 3, 2015
Revised: June 16, 2015
Accepted: July 21, 2015
Article in press: July 23, 2015
Published online: September 26, 2015
Processing time: 170 Days and 23.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Leptin is a hormone derived from adipocytes which regulates food intake and body weight. It is present at high levels in obese individuals where it can impact organs such as the heart. Leptin has been shown to both promote and protect the heart against obesity induced heart disease. This review examines the controversial role of leptin in the development of cardiac hypertrophy as well as its important role in regulating cardiac metabolism and protecting the heart against obesity induced lipotoxicity.