Figure 1.

AgRP stimulation recapitulates fasting-related foraging and reduced territorialism. (a) Schematic diagram of the Pavlovian food-challenge assay used to assess risk taking. (b) Viral construct: AAV1-DIO-hM3Dq:mCh, and diagram of the stereotaxic injection site in Agrp^Cre mice. (c) Viral expression of hM3Dq:mCh in AgRP neurons in conjunction with CNO-induced Fos immunoreactivity; scale bar, 100 μm. Animals included in the study (red dots) consumed >1.0 g of food 4 hr post CNO (1 mg/kg IP). Note, four animals consumed <1.0 g of food in this test and were excluded from the study. (d) Postconditioning (TD) quantification of time spent in the shock-associated chamber, compared using a 1-way ANOVA with Bonferroni's multiple comparison tests. Experimental and control animals were evaluated with either the food available, or blocked on test day. There was no difference between controls under these conditions, and they are plotted together. The experimental animals are separated by either condition: food available (left) and food blocked trial (right). (e) Time spent in the open arms of a plus maze, compared using a 1-way ANOVA with Bonferroni's multiple comparison tests. (f) Paired two-tailed Student's t-test analysis of home-cage aggressive behavior. (d-f) Bar outlines indicate mouse genotype: red indicates Agrp^Cre, while black indicates C57BL/6. The condition or treatments of the animals are indicated below the x-axis. (d,e) Conducted during the light cycle (5:00 – 17:00), (f) Conducted in the dark (17:00 – 19:00). See methods for detailed statistics.