Fig. 4: Influence of antibodies on α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) anorexigenic effects in rodents.

a Schematic illustration of the injection site in the rat paraventricular nucleus (PVN). b Cumulative food intake in rats measured at 30 and 120 min after acute intra-PVN injection of 2 μL of affinity-purified α-MSH-reactive IgG from eating disorder patients (anorexia nervosa, n = 5; bulimia nervosa, n = 5; binge eating disorder, n = 6), obese patients (n = 6), and Ctrl (n = 4) all preincubated with α-MSH and diluted in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF); control group received CSF only (CSF, n = 5). Cumulative food intake in wild-type (WT, n = 6) (c) and Ig-deficient Rag^−/− mice (n = 6) (d) measured during 4 h after injection of α-MSH (100 µg/kg) (dotted line) as compared to baseline (solid line). Data are means ± s.e.m and expressed as area under the curve (AUC, e, right panel). Analysis of variance with Tukey’s post-test (b) and Mann–Whitney test (e), **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05, ^#p < 0.10