Leptin, adiposity, and testosterone in captive male macaques

Leptin is considered to act as a signal relating somatic energetic status to the reproductive system. However, the nature of that signal and its relationship with male reproductive function across nonhuman primate species are unclear. We suggest that species-specific differences in leptin physiology may be related to the degree of environmental variation and variation in the importance of energy stores for male reproduction. In order to test the role of seasonality in species differences among nonhuman primates, we compared leptin, testosterone, and body composition in male rhesus (n = 69) and pig-tailed (n = 43) macaques. Despite having larger abdominal fat deposits, the rhesus macaques did not exhibit significantly higher leptin levels (rhesus, 2.21 +/- 0.43 ng/ml; pig-tailed, 2.12 +/- 0.39 ng/ml). Both species showed increases in leptin across adolescent, subadult, and adult age-groups (P = 0.036 for rhesus; P = 0.0003 for pig-tailed by ANCOVA). Testosterone was not significantly associated with leptin in either the rhesus (r = 0.039; P = 0.754) or pig-tailed (r = 0.2862; P = 0.066) samples. Comparison of leptin levels across the two species using univariate modeling procedures showed no significant age-group by abdominal fat interaction. These findings suggest little difference in leptin production between these two closely related species, despite the difference in breeding seasonality.