Figure 2. Silencing VMN^SF1 neurons, but not VMN^CCKBR neurons, decreases energy expenditure and causes obesity.

(A) We injected AAV-DIO-TetTox-EGFP bilaterally into the VMN of Cckbr^Cre (n = 15) or Sf1^Cre (n = 11) mice and examined the effects on parameters of energy and glucose homeostasis. Control mice (n = 30) received AAV-GFP; data from control mice of both genotypes are shown merged. Shown are (B) BW, (C) food intake, (D) VO₂, (E) fat mass, and (F) serum leptin levels. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM (B and C) or as box-and-whisker plots showing the data spread from minimum to maximum, median, first quartile, and third quartile (D–F). *P < 0.05, by 1-way ANOVA (D–F) or 2-way repeated-measures ANOVA (B and C) with Fisher’s LSD post hoc test (B). The different lowercase letters in the plots in D–F indicate significant differences (P < 0.05).