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. 2012 Oct 11;11:19. doi: 10.1186/2251-6581-11-19

Table 1.

Summary of the key Adipokine/Cytokine associated with health related issues of over-fatness and obesity

Adipokine/Cytokine Cell/Tissue Secreting Tissue Influenced by Adipokine/Cytokine(Metabolic response to signal) Impact of Over-fatness Impact of Physical Activity
Adiponectin [46]
A
Skeletal Muscle (↑insulin sensitivity, ↓response to IL-6, TNF-α)


Liver (↑ insulin sensitivity, ↓response to IL-6, TNF-α)
Adipocytes (↑insulin sensitivity, ↓response to IL-6, TNF-α)
Cardiovascular Endothelial Cells (↓adhesion formation, ↓response to IL-6, TNF-α)
Visfatin [6,22,23,43,47]
A
Adipocytes (differentiation of cells)

↓/↔
Skeletal Muscle (↑ insulin sensitivity)
Liver (↑ insulin sensitivity)
Leptin [6,22,23,40,42,43,47,48]
A
Cardiovascular Endothelial Cells (↑ adhesion formation, ↑ response to IL-6, TNF-α)


Adipocytes (↑ production and release IL-6, TNF-α)
Skeletal Muscle (↑insulin sensitivity, ↑ lipid metabolism, ↓response to IL-6, TNF-α)
Hypothalamus/Central Nervous
System (satiety, hunger response, indication of energy expenditure)
Resistin [20,22,49-51]
A, M
Cardiovascular Endothelial Cells (↑ adhesion formation)*

↓/↔
Retinol Binding Protein-4 (RBP-4) [6,43,52,53]
A
Skeletal Muscle (↓insulin sensitivity)


Liver (↓insulin sensitivity)
Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) [5,6,45,54-59]
A/M
Cardiovascular Endothelial Cells (↑ adhesion formation)


Skeletal Muscle (↓insulin sensitivity)
Liver (↓insulin sensitivity)
Interluekin-6 (IL-6) [5,6,20,56,60-69]
M, A/M
Leukocytes (↑ activity and response)


Cardiovascular Endothelial Cells (↑ adhesion response)
Skeletal Muscle (↓insulin sensitivity, ↑inflammation response w/in tissues)
Liver (↓insulin sensitivity,↑inflammation response w/in tissues)
Chemerin [70] A Macrophage & Leukocyte (↑ activity and pro-inflammatory cytokine release)
?
Liver (↓insulin sensitivity,↑inflammation response w/in tissues)

Note that * indicates that mixed results in outcome of results with research involving human volunteers,$ animal studies indicate impact on insulin sensitivity not duplicated with human subjects, A indicates adipose tissue derived chemical, M indicates macrophage derived chemical, A/M indicates both adipose tissue and macrophage derived chemical, ↑ indicates an increase in production and release, ↓indicates an decrease in production and release, ↔ indicates no effect in production and release, and ? indicates unknown response.