Fig. 2.

A: RIA of cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART)-immunoreactive (IR) material in WT and CPE KO hypothalamic extracts. Bar graph shows that CPE KO hypothalami contained ∼53% more CART-IR than WT. *P < 0.05. B: lack of bioactive CART in the hypothalamus of CPE KO mice. Surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) chromatographic profiles of CART-IR peptides in hypothalami of WT and CPE KO male mice. Samples of hypothalamic extract from WT and CPE KO animals were analyzed using PG20 ProteinChips, which was coupled with anti-CART (55–102). Relative intensity (%) in mass/charge is plotted for each peptide and shown for the region between 0 and 15,000 Da. Active forms of CART: CART I (5.4 kDa), and CART II (4.4 kDa) were present in WT but not CPE KO mice. An intermediate form of CART (6.1 kDa) and high molecular mass forms (HMW) of CART-IR 12 and 14.9 kDa, consistent with posttranslationally modified proCART) were found in greater amounts in CPE KO than in WT animals. *Double-charged m/z peak of the 14.9-kDa HMW CART-IR peak.