Fig. 6

AgRP neurons lacking Cpt1a show reduced dendritic spines and projections to the PVN. a Scheme of AAV1-EF1a-DIO-synaptophysin-GFP administration into the ARC and the projection to the PVN. b Representative fluorescence microphotograph of AgRP-syn projection to the PVN in female and male mice. Scale bar, 10 μm. Syn-GFP intensity level was quantified with ImageJ using 6 slices (n = 3–4). c Representative images of AgRP neurons along the anterior–posterior axis of the ARC. d Quantification of AgRP neurons in the anterior, medial and posterior section of the ARC in female mice (d, n = 3–4). Scale bar, 25 μm. e Representative microphotograph of the anterior ARC section in female mice. Scale bar, 100 μm. f, g Representative fluorescence microphotograph of the dendrites of AgRP neurons. Scale bar, 100 μm. Quantification of the number of dendritic spines per 50 μm of dendrites in 20/25 axons of AgRP neurons in female mice (g, n = 3). h Scheme of mitochondrial labeling in the ZsGreen Cpt1aKO mice. i Representative fluorescence microphotograph of mitochondria from ZsGreen mice. Scale bar, 10 μm. j, l Quantification of the number of mitochondria per cell. k, m The average mitochondrial area in AgRP neurons (n = 3, 20–28 neurons per genotype). Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. In d, g, j–o, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.001 using Student’s t-test