Secretion of leptin throughout pregnancy and early postpartum period in Japanese monkeys: placenta as another potential source of leptin.

Leptin is one of the most important factors linking nutrition and reproduction. In the present study, plasma concentrations of leptin during pregnancy and early lactation in the Japanese monkey were determined. Plasma concentrations of gonadotropins, immunoreactive (ir-)inhibin, and steroid hormones were also measured. Plasma concentrations of leptin significantly increased during the second quarter of pregnancy and progressively elevated throughout pregnancy. During the fourth quarter of pregnancy, leptin levels reached up to 89 and 64 times of those during prepregancy and first quarter of pregnancy periods, respectively. After parturition, the circulating leptin level abruptly decreased. During the first 10 d of lactation, its average level decreased to the levels of the second quarter of pregnancy. Plasma irinhibin and estradiol-17beta were elevated throughout the pregnancy and decreased after parturition, and both of them were positively correlated with leptin levels during the whole pregnancy and early lactation. Plasma concentrations of progesterone significantly increased during the first quarter of pregnancy and kept at a higher level compared with prepregnancy and sharply decreased after parturition. Placental homogenates contain a large amount of leptin protein. These results suggest that placenta secretes a large amount of leptin and may be another source of leptin during pregnancy in Japanese monkeys. In addition, high correlations among leptin, irinhibin, and estradiol-17beta during these stages suggest that these hormones may have important regulating roles on leptin secretion during pregnancy in the Japanese monkey.