Fig. 3: Deletion of the Ntrk2 gene in the PVH of adult female mice leads to hyperphagic obesity.

a Bilateral injection of AAV2-CMV-GFP or AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP (200 nl) into the PVH of Ntrk2^lox/lox mice. GFP fluorescence (a1) and Ntrk2 mRNA in situ hybridization (a2, a3) are shown. Scale bars are 100 μm (a1) and 200 μm (a2, a3), respectively. b Body weight of Ntrk2^lox/lox mice injected with either AAV2-CMV-GFP or AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP into the PVH bilaterally. n = 4 mice for AAV2-CMV-GFP, 5 mice for AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP (missed), and 6 mice for AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP (hit). Two-way ANOVA with post hoc Bonferroni multiple comparisons; F_{(2, 108)} =  34.442, P < 0.0001 for viral injection; **P = 0.0025 and ****P < 0.0001 for comparisons between AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP (hit) and AAV2-CMV-GFP or AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP (missed). c Body composition of Ntrk2^lox/lox mice 9 weeks after AAV injection. n = 4 mice for AAV2-CMV-GFP and 5 mice for AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP (hit). Two-tailed unpaired t test; ****P < 0.0001. d Correlation between the extent of AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP transduction in PVH and body weight at 8 weeks after injection. Data are from both AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP (hit) and AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP (missed) groups. PVH hit score is a sum of the extents of AAV transduction in 6 divisions of the PVH (see Supplementary Table 1 for detail). e Daily food intake of Ntrk2^lox/lox mice during week 3 and week 10 post injection. n = 4 mice for AAV2-CMV-GFP and five mice for AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP (hit). Two-tailed unpaired t test; ** P = 0.0058 and *** P = 0.0008. f O₂ consumption of Ntrk2^lox/lox mice during week 3 and week 10 post injection. Two-tailed unpaired t test; n.s. not significant. g Locomotor activity of Ntrk2^lox/lox mice during week 3 and week 10 post injection. Two-tailed unpaired t test; n.s. not significant and **P < 0.002. h RER of Ntrk2^lox/lox mice during week 3 and week 10 post injection. Two-tailed unpaired t test; n.s. not significant. Animal numbers for f–h are 4 mice for AAV2-CMV-GFP and six mice for AAV2-CMV-Cre-GFP (hit). Error bars indicate SEM. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.