title: Leptin pharmacokinetics in male mice.
abstract: Pharmacokinetics of leptin in mammals has not been studied in detail and only one study has examined more than one time point in non-mutant mice and this was in a female mice. This is the first study to describe leptin distribution over a detailed time course in normal male mice. A physiologic dose (12 ng) of radiolabelled leptin was injected into adult male mice via the lateral tail vein and tissues were dissected out and measured for radioactivity over a time course of up to two hours. Major targets were the digestive tract, kidneys, skin and lungs. The brain was not a major target, and 0.15% of the total dose was recovered from the brain 5 min after administration. Major differences appear to exist in the distribution of leptin between the male and female mice, indicating a high degree of sexual dimorphism. Although the half-lives were similar between male and female mice, almost twice the proportion of leptin was recovered from the digestive tract of male mice in comparison to that reported previously for females. This would seem to indicate a major difference in leptin distribution and possibly function between males and females.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bioactive Discovery in Health and AgeingUniversity of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia rhart7@une.edu.au.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.affiliation: NSW Department of Primary IndustriesArmidale, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Robin C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Dobos
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bioactive Discovery in Health and AgeingUniversity of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Linda L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Agnew
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bioactive Discovery in Health and AgeingUniversity of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Neil A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Smart
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bioactive Discovery in Health and AgeingUniversity of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: McFarlane
keywords: dimorphism; gastrointestinal tract; leptin; mice; pharmacokinetics