Leptin enhances the calcification of vascular cells: artery wall as a target of leptin.

Leptin, the product of the ob gene, regulates food intake, energy expenditure, and other physiological functions of the peripheral tissues. Leptin receptors have been identified in the hypothalamus and in extrahypothalamic tissues. Increased circulating leptin levels have been correlated with cardiovascular disease, obesity, aging, infection with bacterial lipopolysaccharide, and high-fat diets. All these conditions have also been correlated with increased vascular calcification, a hallmark of atherosclerotic and age-related vascular disease. In addition, the differentiation of marrow osteoprogenitor cells is regulated by leptin. Thus, we hypothesized that leptin may regulate the calcification of vascular cells. In this report, we tested the effects of leptin on a previously characterized subpopulation of vascular cells that undergo osteoblastic differentiation and calcification in vitro. When treated with leptin, these calcifying vascular cells had a significant 5- to 10-fold increase in alkaline phosphatase activity, a marker of osteogenic differentiation of osteoblastic cells. Prolonged treatment with leptin enhanced the calcification of these cells, further supporting the pro-osteogenic differentiation effects of leptin. Furthermore, the presence of the leptin receptor on calcifying vascular cells was demonstrated using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, immunocytochemistry, and Western blot analysis. We also identified the presence of leptin receptor in the mouse artery wall, localized to subpopulations of medial and adventitial cells, and the expression of leptin by artery wall cells and atherosclerotic lesions in mice. Taken together, these results suggest that leptin regulates the osteoblastic differentiation and calcification of vascular cells and that the artery wall may be an important peripheral tissue target of leptin action.