Wiktionary
n. (context hormone English) A protein hormone produced in adipose tissue; it plays a role in regulating appetite and metabolism.
Wikipedia
Leptin (from Greek λεπτός leptos, "thin"), the "satiety hormone", is a hormone made by adipose cells that helps to regulate energy balance by inhibiting hunger. Leptin is opposed by the actions of the hormone ghrelin, the "hunger hormone". Both hormones act on receptors in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus to regulate appetite to achieve energy homeostasis. In obesity, a decreased sensitivity to leptin occurs, resulting in an inability to detect satiety despite high energy stores.
Although regulation of fat stores is deemed to be the primary function of leptin, it also plays a role in other physiological processes, as evidenced by its multiple sites of synthesis other than fat cells, and the multiple cell types beside hypothalamic cells that have leptin receptors. Many of these additional functions are yet to be defined.
Usage examples of "leptin".
The first officer was calling himself Hari Leptin, but it was hard not to notice that he often failed to respond to that name on the first pass.
Some of these genetic differences will probably involve a hormone called leptin, which is produced by fat cells.
Low leptin means little fat, and the body goes into conservation mode: cutting back its base metabolic rate, stimulating appetite, and inducing food-search behavior.
When he was carrying the extra pounds, his body would have been producing excess leptin, and his hypothalamus would have wanted to shed the extra fat.
When doctors started administering leptin, his food consumption dropped to 180 calories per meal.
Because mice, like people, have leptin, an obvious experiment is to create a leptin-knockout mouse.
With no leptin feedback mechanism to tell their hypothalamuses how much body fat they have, these mice are huge.