Leptin, a 167-amino acid hormone, is secreted mainly by fat tissue. Leptin signaling plays crucial roles on the regulation of metabolism and reproductive function through endocrine and probably paracrine mechanisms. So, detection of leptin receptor in various tissues is essential to an understanding of leptin physiology in sheep. The aim of the present study was to investigate expression pattern of functional ovine leptin receptor (OB-Rb) in adult tissues using reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction analysis (RT-PCR). Ovine beta actin gene was chosen as an internal positive control as well as RNA purification marker. RT-PCR experiments confirmed the expression of functional leptin receptor mRNA in ovine tissues including fat, liver, rumen and lung, but not in kidney and hypophysis. Characterization of functional leptin receptor in different organs suggests that leptin has paracrine/autocrine effects on many target organs as well as their physiology in sheep which should be more investigated in the future.

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