Dihydrotestosterone, stanozolol, androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate inhibit leptin secretion in female but not in male samples of omental adipose tissue in vitro: lack of effect of testosterone.

J Endocrinol. 1999 Mar;160(3):425-32.

Dihydrotestosterone, stanozolol, androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone
sulphate inhibit leptin secretion in female but not in male samples of omental
adipose tissue in vitro: lack of effect of testosterone.

Piñeiro V, Casabiell X, Peinó R, Lage M, Camiña JP, Menendez C, Baltar J, Dieguez
C, Casanueva F.

Endocrine Section, Department of Medicine, Santiago de Compostela University,
Complejo Hospitalanó de Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Leptin, the product of the Ob gene, is a polypeptide hormone expressed in
adipocytes which acts as a signalling factor from the adipose tissue to the
central nervous system, regulating food intake and energy expenditure. It has
been reported that circulating leptin levels are higher in women than in men,
even after correction for body fat. This gender-based difference may be
conditioned by differences in the levels of androgenic hormones. To explore this
possibility, a systematic in vitro study with organ cultures from human omental
adipose tissue, either stimulated or not with androgens (1 microM), was
undertaken in samples obtained from surgery on 44 non-obese donors (21 women and
23 men). The assay was standardized in periods of 24 h, ending at 96 h, with no
apparent tissue damage. Leptin results are expressed as the mean+/-s.e.m. of the
integrated secretion into the medium, expressed as ng leptin/g tissue per 48 h.
Spontaneous leptin secretion in samples from female donors (4149+/-301) was
significantly higher (P<0.01) than that from male donors (2456+/-428).
Testosterone did not exert any significant effect on in vitro leptin secretion in
either gender (4856+/-366 in women, 3322+/-505 in men). Coincubation of adipose
tissue with dihydrotestosterone (DHT) induced a significant (P<0.05) leptin
decrease in samples taken from women (3119+/-322) but not in those taken from men
(2042+/-430). Stanozolol, a non-aromatizable androgen, decreased (P<0.05) leptin
secretion in female samples (2809+/-383) but not in male (1553+/-671).
Dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S) induced a significant (P<0.01) leptin
decrease in female samples (2996+/-473), with no modifications in samples derived
from males (1596+/-528). Exposure to androstenedione also resulted in a
significant reduction (P<0.01) of leptin secretion in samples taken from women
(2231+/-264), with no effect on male adipose tissue (1605+/-544). In conclusion,
DHT, stanozolol, DHEA-S and androstenedione induced a significant inhibition of
in vitro leptin secretion in samples from female donors, without affecting the
secretion in samples from men. Testosterone was devoid of activity in either
gender.