Fig. 3

Growth and energy expenditure phenotypes of adult Dlx1/2^cKO mice. a Postnatal death of Dlx1/2^cKO mice from a total of 14 litters. b, c Dwarfism of Dlx1/2^cKO male mice (n = 3) (b) and qualification of their linear body length, body weight, IGF1 expression in the liver (by qRT-PCR) and serum glucose levels (c), relative to their littermate males controls (n = 5). The ruler unit in b is in cm. d MRI analyses of fat and lean mass revealed an increased fat deposition in Dlx1/2^cKO male mice (n = 5) relative to their control male mice (n = 5). e Food intake measurement revealed no significant difference between control (n = 6) and Dlx1/2^cKO male mice (n = 4) throughout the diurnal cycles. f VO₂/VCO₂ measurements uncovered a significant decrease in energy expenditure in Dlx1/2^cKO male mice (n = 3) relative to their controls (n = 3). g Circadian home cage activity was continuously measured using a home cage sensor system and mLog software (BioBServe, Germany). h Basal body temperature measurement revealed a significant reduction in female Dlx1/2^cKO mice (n = 4) relative to their littermate female controls (n = 6), as well as a trend for reduced body temperature with male Dlx1/2^cKO mice (n = 6) relative to their littermate male controls (n = 6), which did not reach statistical significance (p, 0.06). The p-values by two-way ANOVA test were 0.002 for VO₂ measurement but not significant (NS) for VCO₂ measurement, as indicated (f). Student’s t-test results are as indicated: ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001, and ∗∗∗∗p < 0.0001 (c, d, f, h). The home cage activity and food intake during the light and dark periods were analyzed separately using repeated-measures ANOVA with genotype as the between-subjects factor (e, g). Bars represent mean, error bars represent the SEM