leptin
leptin — noun
1. a hormone produced by the body's fat cells that signals to the brain when the bo
a hormone produced by the body's fat cells that signals to the brain when the body has enough stored energy, making a person feel less hungry and helping to control weight.
Dr. Chen measured the leptin levels in her patient's blood sample this morning.
measuring leptin levels in blood
When Fatima lost weight, her leptin levels dropped and she felt hungrier than before.
leptin levels drop with weight loss
The laboratory mice with a leptin deficiency ate much more food than the healthy ones.
Akira's doctor explained that leptin tells the brain how much fat the body is carrying.
A team at Makerere University is studying how leptin affects energy use during exercise.
- obesity hormone
an informal and less precise label used in popular media, not in medical research
- satiety hormone
a descriptive nickname emphasizing leptin's role in reducing hunger, but not a technical synonym
- ghrelin
the 'hunger hormone' produced by the stomach, which has the opposite effect of leptin — it increases appetite
用法筆記
Almost always used as an uncountable noun in medical and scientific writing. The countable form (e.g., 'different leptins') appears only in advanced research contexts describing variants of the hormone.