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World J Psychiatr. Dec 22, 2014; 4(4): 103-111
Published online Dec 22, 2014. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v4.i4.103
Peptides from adipose tissue in mental disorders
Andrzej Wędrychowicz, Andrzej Zając, Maciej Pilecki, Barbara Kościelniak, Przemysław J Tomasik
Andrzej Wędrychowicz, Department of Pediatrics, Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Polish-American Children’s Hospital, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 30-663 Krakow, Poland
Andrzej Zając, Department of Pediatric Surgery, Polish-American Children’s Hospital, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 30-663 Krakow, Poland
Maciej Pilecki, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Chair of Psychiatry, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 30-663 Krakow, Poland
Barbara Kościelniak, Przemysław J Tomasik, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Polish-American Children’s Hospital, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 30-663 Krakow, Poland
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to this work.
Conflict-of-interest: Authors certify that there is no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Przemysław J Tomasik, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Polish-American Children’s Hospital, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Wielicka St 265, 30-663 Krakow, Poland. p.tomasik@uj.edu.pl
Telephone: +48-12-6580681 Fax: +48-12-6580681
Received: September 26, 2014
Peer-review started: September 28, 2014
First decision: November 3, 2014
Revised: November 26, 2014
Accepted: December 3, 2014
Article in press: December 10, 2014
Published online: December 22, 2014
Abstract

Adipose tissue is a dynamic endocrine organ that is essential to regulation of metabolism in humans. A new approach to mental disorders led to research on involvement of adipokines in the etiology of mental disorders and mood states and their impact on the health status of psychiatric patients, as well as the effects of treatment for mental health disorders on plasma levels of adipokines. There is evidence that disturbances in adipokine secretion are important in the pathogenesis, clinical presentation and outcome of mental disorders. Admittedly leptin and adiponectin are involved in pathophysiology of depression. A lot of disturbances in secretion and plasma levels of adipokines are observed in eating disorders with a significant impact on the symptoms and course of a disease. It is still a question whether observed dysregulation of adipokines secretion are primary or secondary. Moreover findings in this area are somewhat inconsistent, owing to differences in patient age, sex, socioeconomic status, smoking habits, level of physical activity, eating pathology, general health or medication. This was the rationale for our detailed investigation into the role of the endocrine functions of adipose tissue in mental disorders. It seems that we are continually at the beginning of understanding of the relation between adipose tissue and mental disorders.

Keywords: Adiponectin, Leptin, Visfatin, Resistin, Omentin, Adipsin, Eating disorders, Schizophrenia

Core tip: New approach to adipose tissue as endocrine organ developed new research fields in psychiatry. Several papers linked the well-known adipokines like leptin, adiponectin and resistin with mental disorders. But there are still a hundreds of recently discovered adipokines with possible role in mental disorders.