Oxytocin neurons drive melanocortin circuit maturation via vesicle release during a neonatal critical period
Fig 4
Blocking exocytosis of OT neurons perturbs the development of melanocortin circuits.
(A) Description of the animal model. Created in BioRender. Bouret, S. (2025) https://BioRender.com/v6d7iia. (B–E) Representative images and quantification of (B, D) POMC and (C, E) AgRP fibers innervating the (B, C) paraventricular nucleus (PVH) and (D, E) dorsomedial nucleus (DMH) of adult BoNT/B (control) and Ot-Cre::BoNT/B mice (n = 4−8 animals per group). (F, G) Representative images and quantification of OT (PS38+) neurons and fibers innervating the (F) PVH and (G) lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), respectively, in adult BoNT/B (control) and Ot-Cre::BoNT/B mice (n = 8−4 animals per group). Data are presented as mean + SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. Scale bar, 200 μm. The data underlying this Figure can be found in S1 Data.