Leptin stimulates vascular sympathetic activity and NO release. The resulting effect of hyperleptinemia on endothelial function is unknown. Reduction of food intake associated with hyperleptinemia may mediate some of the vascular effects of leptin. This study was designed to assess the relative effects of short-term moderate caloric restriction and hyperleptinemia on vascular function in lean rat. Endothelium-dependent and -independent vasorelaxation, nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression and nitrite production were measured in lean rats receiving leptin subcutaneous infusion (-26% caloric intake, -4% body weight versus control) or moderate caloric restriction (pair-feeding) for one week. Plasma leptin was increased (P < = 0.05) by approximately 300% in the leptin-infused group, while it decreased (P < or = 0.05) by approximately 40% in calorie-restricted animals. Both leptin infusion and calorie restriction resulted in improved (P < 0.05) endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation to acetylcholine (EC50: -6.1 +/- 0.2 and -6.2 +/- 0.2 versus -5.4 +/- 0.2 in control) and unaltered endothelium-independent vasodilation to DEA-NONOate. Furthermore, in aortas from leptin-infused and calorie-restricted rats, expression of eNOS and nitrite production were increased (P < = 0.05) to similar extent compared to control animals. These findings suggest that moderate short-term calorie restriction with adaptive hypoleptinemia has independent beneficial effects on endothelial function in lean animals by enhancing eNOS expression and function. In addition, physiological hyperleptinemia does not independently contribute to improved vascular function above and beyond the effect of calorie restriction
