Fig. 4

Analysis of hypothalamic neuropeptide mRNA levels. Expression levels in the medial basal hypothalamus of the mRNAs encoding NPY (a), AgRP (b), POMC (c), CART (d), orexin (e), and leptin receptor (LepR) (f) 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 = 5–6). In males, MD increased POMC mRNA levels, but leptin treatment did not normalize this effect. In contrast, leptin treatment of control males increased CART, orexin, and LepR mRNA levels. In females, there was no effect of MD on the expression of these neuropeptides and leptin treatment of control females only increased orexin expression. Three-way ANCOVA: (a) main effect of sex. Tukey’s post hoc test: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.005