Oxytocin neurons drive melanocortin circuit maturation via vesicle release during a neonatal critical period
Fig 9
Neonatal chemogenetic activation of OT neurons rescues POMC circuit deficits in Magel2 KO mice.
(A) Description of the animal model and its validation through specific activation of OT neurons (cFos immunoreactivity) following Compound-21 injection. Created in BioRender. Bouret, S. (2025) https://BioRender.com/bc3g0nq. (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 Magel2 KO, R26-hM3Dq-DREADD (control) and Magel2 KO, Ot-Cre::R26-hM3Dq-DREADD mice injected with Compound-21 neonatally (n = 5−6 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 Magel2 KO, R26-hM3Dq-DREADD (control) and Magel2 KO, Ot-Cre::R26-hM3Dq-DREADD mice injected with Compound-21 neonatally (n = 5−3 animals per group). Data are presented as mean + SEM. *P < 0.05. Scale bar, 200 μm. The data underlying this Figure can be found in S1 Data.