Figure 1.

Altered energy balance in response to palatable diet in male NtsR1KO mice. Mice fed ad libitum standard rodent chow exhibit (A) a small decrease in food intake (FI) along with (B) increased ambulatory activity, but NtsR1KO mice do not differ from wild-type (WT) mice in (C) VO₂, (D) body weight (BW) or (E) fat mass. In contrast to the hypophagia of NtsR1KO mice maintained on standard chow, (F) NtsR1KO animals eat more of a palatable diet (PD) that is high in fat and sugar compared to WT mice, suggesting increased preference for palatable, calorie-dense food. PD-fed NtsR1KO mice (G) maintain increased ambulatory activity and (H) unaltered VO₂ compared to WT mice. The increased PD consumption in NtsR1KO mice promotes (I) a minor, but significant, increase in body weight and (J) a trend for increased fat mass compared to WT animals. Graphs represent average values±SEM. Chow Fed animals: WT n=17, NtsR1KO=10. PD fed animals: WT=10, NtsR1KO=12. Significance was determined via one way ANOVA or student's t-test. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.