Research Article Leptin Effects on the Regenerative Capacity of

Copyright © 2014 Marjan Nokhbehsaim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Obesity is increasing throughout the globe and characterized by excess adipose tissue, which represents a complex endocrine organ. Adipose tissue secrets bioactivemolecules called adipokines, which act at endocrine, paracrine, and autocrine levels. Obesity has recently been shown to be associated with periodontitis, a disease characterized by the irreversible destruction of the tooth-supporting tissues, that is, periodontium, and also with compromised periodontal healing. Although the underlying mechanisms for these associations are not clear yet, increased levels of proinflammatory adipokines, such as leptin, as found in obese individuals, might be a critical pathomechanistic link.Theobjective of this studywas to examine the impact of leptin on the regenerative capacity of human periodontal ligament (PDL) cells and also to study the local leptin production by these cells. Leptin caused a significant downregulation of growth (TG