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Leptin receptors in human skeletal muscle

¹Department of Physical Education, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ²Genetic Unit, Childhood Hospital Materno Infantil de Las Palmas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and ³Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Laguna, La Laguna, Canary Island, Spain

Submitted 20 November 2006 ; accepted in final form 10 January 2007

Human skeletal muscle expresses leptin receptor mRNA; however, it remains unknown whether leptin receptors (OB-R) are also expressed at the protein level. Fourteen healthy men (age = 33.1 ± 2.0 yr, height = 175.9 ± 1.7 cm, body mass = 81.2 ± 3.8 kg, body fat = 22.5 ± 1.9%; means ± SE) participated in this investigation. The expression of OB-R protein was determined in skeletal muscle, subcutaneous adipose tissue, and hypothalamus using a polyclonal rabbit anti-human leptin receptor. Three bands with a molecular mass close to 170, 128, and 98 kDa were identified by Western blot with the anti-OB-R antibody. All three bands were identified in skeletal muscle: the 98-kDa and 170-kDa bands were detected in hypothalamus, and the 98-kDa and 128-kDa bands were detected in thigh subcutaneous adipose tissue. The 128-kDa isoform was not detected in four subjects, whereas in the rest its occurrence was fully explained by the presence of intermuscular adipose tissue, as demonstrated using an anti-perilipin A antibody. No relationship was observed between the basal concentration of leptin in serum and the 170-kDa band density. In conclusion, a long isoform of the leptin receptor with a molecular mass close to 170 kDa is expressed at the protein level in human skeletal muscle. The amount of 170-kDa protein appears to be independent of the basal concentration of leptin in serum.

obesity; adipose tissue; hypothalamus; perilipin