Figure 7.

Chronic GABA_A-receptor agonist treatment normalizes the phenotype of AgRP-ablated mice. Representative distribution of RQ (VCO₂/VO₂) acquired by indirect calorimetry on the course of several days in naive (black circles) and obese AgRP-ablated mice (red circles) implanted with subcutaneous osmotic minipumps (mp) delivering the GABA_A receptor partial agonist, bretazenil (0.25 μl/h; 3 mg/ml) (A, B). Data are presented as an average of 2 (A) or 3 (B) consecutive days acquired at the beginning (A) or during (B) the treatment. Average RQ value at the entry of the dark cycle, at a time indicated with an arrow, are presented as histogram (*P<0.05 using repeated measure ANOVA). Body fat content acquired by NMR in (C) on naive (black bars) and obese AgRP-ablated mice (red bars) prior to mp implantation (pre-op), during bretazenil delivery (at day=23) or 10 days after the mp have run out (n=5–7 in each group). Average daily subcutaneous temperature collected on 3 consecutive days during bretazenil treatment (D). Displayed values are mean values±s.e.m. *P<0.05.