DWI Detected Differential Response of Hypothalamic Nuclei Between Leptin Deficient and Wild Type Mice

Blanca Lizarbe¹, Pilar Lopez-Larrubia¹, Sebastin Cerdn²

Obesity is a pandemic syndrome associated with the most prevalent and morbid pathologies. Body adiposity is thought to be regulated systemically through an endocrine adiposity-negative feedback loop, including mainly leptin2. Disruptions in the leptin signalling systems are associated with obesity in humans and mice, and the leptin-null ob/ob mouse model exhibits decrease energy expenditure, hyperphagia and obesity. Here, we prpose the fDWI approach to the evaluation of ob/ob mice in fed and fasted conditions, to validate the use of fDWI in animal models with hypothalamic disfunctionality and characterize the individual responses to fasting of relevant hypothalamic nuclei from leptin-null mice.