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Concept

Leptin

A dark circle with the word "LEPTIN" in gold letters is centered against a neutral background, casting a shadow to the right.

A peptide hormone secreted by fat cells, discovered in 1994 by Jeffrey Friedman's lab at Rockefeller University. Leptin tells the hypothalamus how much energy is in storage; mice and rare humans who cannot make it eat without restraint and become massively obese. Its discovery overturned the view of adipose tissue as passive padding and established fat as a major endocrine organ in its own right.

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