Figure 8.

Acute activation of midbrain LepR neurons increased food intake. LepR-Ires-Cre and KO mice received stereotaxic injections of AAV-DIO-hM3D(Gq)-mCherry vectors to the VTA and food intake was measured four weeks after the injection. A–C, Expression pattern of AAV-DIO-h3MD(Gq)-mCherry vectors (A), c-Fos (B), and their colocalization (C) in the VTA of LepR-Ires-Cre mice treated with saline. D–F, Expression pattern of AAV-DIO-hM3D(Gq)-mCherry vectors (D), c-Fos (D), and their colocalization (F, arrows) in the VTA of LepR-Ires-Cre mice treated with CNO. G, Food intake measured in early morning during the indicated time periods from mice fed chow treated with saline or CNO. H, Food intake measured in early morning during the indicated time periods from mice fed HFD treated with saline or CNO. Scale bars, 50 μm; data were presented as mean ± SEM; n = 5–6 (F, G), two-way ANOVA tests.