Fig. 5: An OB → vSub → VMH circuit mediates FO-induced hypophagia.

a Scheme for virus injection in the vSub and VMH of WT mice. Representative images of GFP-labeled starter neurons in the vSub (b) and GFP-labeled upstream neurons in the OB (c) from three indepent experiments. d Scheme for virus injection in the vSub and OB of WT mice. e Representative image of virus expression in the OB from three indepent experiments. f Representative traces of blue light-evoked postsynaptic current in vSub neurons in the presence of TTX and 4-AP (black) and DNQX (red). g Scheme for virus injection in the vSub and OB of WT mice. h Representative image of virus expression in the OB with the virus injection in (g) from five indepent experiments. i Three-hour chow intake from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm in control and Kir2.1-expressing male mice in control (no odor) or chow-derived odor exposure group. n = 5 mice per group. j Daily food intake (6:30 pm–9:00 am) in chow-fed control and Kir2.1-expressing male mice with repeated chow-derived odor exposure for 5 days. n = 5 mice per group. k Body weight change in chow-fed control and Kir2.1-expressing male mice with chow-derived odor exposure for 5 days. n = 5 mice per group. Two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA with post hoc Sidak’s multiple comparisons. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001. Data are presented as mean ± SEM with individual data points in (i), and as mean ± SEM in (j, k). Source data are provided as a Source data file. The Schematics in (a, d, g) were created in BioRender. He, Y. (2025) https://BioRender.com/os9kdf6.