Perinatal expression of leptin in rat stomach.

It has been reported recently that the stomach can produce and store leptin and release it, both into the blood and into the gastrointestinal lumen, in response to food intake. Here, we have followed the ontogenic pattern of leptin mRNA expression and leptin levels in stomach during the perinatal period, which were compared with adults. Leptin mRNA expression was assessed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and tissue leptin content by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and localised by immunohistochemistry. Leptin mRNA is expressed at low levels in rat stomach in prenatal stages. It increased from 4 to 8 hr of life in suckling rats, an increase not observed in the fasted pups, which were separated from their mothers immediately after birth. Leptin expression rose steadily after birth during the first month of life, with a marked increase from 15-day-old rats, followed by a parallel increase in leptin levels from day 21 of life, which was coincident with the change from suckling to a solid diet. The immunohistochemical analysis showed leptin immunoreactivity at different levels of the stomach mucosa, suggesting that during early development leptin could derive from different sources. During the pre- and neonatal periods, leptin is mainly located at the superficial epithelium (suggesting maternal origin from amniotic cells and mammary glandular cells, respectively). At the beginning of the chow diet, the stomach produces leptin in the glands (main source from 15 days of life), suggesting an endogenous production of the protein after that period. The present work demonstrates the expression of leptin mRNA and leptin protein in the stomach of neonate rats, and shows that the ontogenic profile of leptin appearance in the stomach during the perinatal period is probably related to the onset of suckling and to the change of diet from milk to solid chow. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.