see also:

• obesity
• diabetes mellitus
• cytokines

• it is becoming increasingly evident that adipose tissue has major endocrine roles
• adipokines is a term being used to categorise proteins released from adipose tissue, however, as they do not generally act upon the immune system, they are not grouped under cytokines and may be better referred to as adipose-derived hormones
• examples include:
  • leptin
  • adiponectin
  • apelin
  • chemerin
  • visfatin
  • retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4)
  • resistin
  • plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1)
  • asprosin
    • secreted primarily by adipose tissue, regulates energy balance by stimulating the liver to release glucose and signaling the brain to promote appetite
    • increased levels occur after fasting
    • appears to reduce weight gain in post menopausal women¹⁾
• adipose tissue also releases cytokines such as:
  • interleukin-6 (IL-6)
  • monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1
  • tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα)