Fig. 2

Changes in body mass and food intake throughout the study. a, b Mean body mass (BM), c accumulated BM gain, and d accumulated food intake per rat from the time of weaning until 5 days before being killed. e Glucose tolerance test (area under the curve), in maternal deprivation (MD) or control (Co) male and female rats treated with leptin (Lept) or vehicle (Vh) from postnatal day (PND) 9 until PND13 (n = 10–12). Body mass was reduced by MD in both sexes until approximately PND57, while leptin treatment of MD rats returned body mass to control levels. Males weighed more and ate more than females throughout the study and were less glucose tolerant. a, b Data were analyzed by a repeated measure three-way ANCOVA: (a) main effect of sex; Tukey’s post hoc test: *** CoLeptin vs. MDLeptin (p < 0.005), @@ MDLeptin vs. CoVh (p < 0.01) and ### MDVh vs. MDLeptin (p < 0.005). c–e Data were analyzed by three-way ANCOVA: (a) main effect of sex; (b) main effect of MD. Tukey’s post hoc: **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.005