A: maternal mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), B: % increase in MAP at GD 19 in melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) wild type (WT) and deficient (MC4R-def) rats under normal pregnant or reduced uterine perfusion pressure (RUPP) conditions. Normal pregnant: WT, N = 21 and MC4R-def, N = 19. RUPP: WT, N = 14 and MC4R-def, N = 15. *P < 0.0001 vs. normal pregnant WT, †P = 0.02 vs. normal pregnant WT, §P = 0.0002 vs. WT.