Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Exp Med. May 20, 2015; 5(2): 103-109
Published online May 20, 2015. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v5.i2.103
Mood disorders: A potential link between ghrelin and leptin on human body?
Stalo Zarouna, Greta Wozniak, Anastasia Ioannis Papachristou
Stalo Zarouna, Psychology Department, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus
Greta Wozniak, Basic Medical Science, Medical Pharmacology, Medical School, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus
Anastasia Ioannis Papachristou, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Voutes Campus, Heraklion, GR-71003 Crete, Greece
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest: None conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Greta Wozniak, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Basic Medical Science, Medical Pharmacology, Medical School, University of Cyprus, Kallipoleos 75, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus. greta@ucy.ac.cy
Telephone: +357-22-895221 Fax: +357-22-895221
Received: September 26, 2014
Peer-review started: September 28, 2014
First decision: December 17, 2014
Revised: January 9, 2015
Accepted: January 30, 2015
Article in press: February 2, 2015
Published online: May 20, 2015
Processing time: 237 Days and 11.2 Hours
Abstract

Leptin and ghrelin are two hormones associated with multiple physiological functions, especially energy balance. Leptin is an adipocyte-secreted hormone discovered in 1950 and ghrelin which was found in 1999, is a peptide hormone produced and secreted in the stomach. A number of previous studies showed that these hormones could be associated with different types of mood disorders. The results of previous studies, nevertheless, are confounded by diverse sample selection and different methodologies. A search for related articles in the PubMed database was attempted. The search covered studies, reports, reviews and editorials published in the last ten years. Older references served as auxiliary sources for comparison purposes. However, due to the different results of the studies, there is a need for more investigation in order to establish the exact biochemical mechanisms that are responsible for these diseases and ghrelin’s and leptin’s effects on mood.

Keywords: Mood disorders; Ghrelin; Leptin

Core tip: Mood disorders are affecting a major amount of the world population. Considering the multiple factors that are contributing in the development of mood disorders, this review emphasizes on the role of leptin and ghrelin hormones. These two hormones have a key role in energy balance but they also have an effect on other physiological functions too, therefore we emphasize on the recent findings which raise a potential link between the hormones and the disorders of mood.