Figure 4.

Obesity in a subset of ObR^SynIKO mice. Significant obesity was evident in those ObR^SynIKO mice that had 15% or less ObR RNA in the hypothalamus than did wild-type mice. (a) Weight curves of male and female ObR^SynIKO mice (filled squares), heterozygote littermates (open squares), and ObR-null mice (filled triangles). Mice were weighed weekly from 5 weeks of age. Data represent the mean ± SEM of four male and two female ObR^SynIKO mice, seven male and nine female heterozygote littermates, and six male and five female ObR-null mice. For both sexes, ObR^SynIKO versus heterozygotes, P < 0.05 at all ages; ObR^SynIKO versus ObR-null, P < 0.05 at all ages. (b) Expression levels of AGRP, NPY, POMC, and CART were determined by Taqman and are expressed as normalized to cyclophilin. Levels were measured in ObR^SynIKO, heterozygotes (HET), and ObR-nulls. (n = 5 for heterozygotes, n = 6 for knockouts, and n = 3 for null mice.)