Hormones and Antiaging Medicine: Adipokines and Antiaging

While adipose tissue stores triglycerides in preparation for starvation, it also produces and secretes various physiologically active substances known as adipokines. Adipokines not only act on adipose tissue but also function as hormones, affecting distant organs and regulating glucose and lipid metabolism as well as vascular function. Abnormal expression of adipokines plays a significant role in the onset of metabolic syndrome. It has become clear that with aging, subcutaneous fat decreases, visceral fat increases, brown fat decreases, and adipokines change. These changes in adipokines are thought to promote aging. This section provides an overview of the relationship between aging, antiaging, and the representative adipokines, adiponectin and leptin.