Responsiveness of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis to leptin is impaired in diet-induced obese rats

a, b Note the marked reduction in PVN NE levels in both DIO and DR rats, indicating normal responsiveness to exogenous leptin. c, d Decrease in ME CRH or serum corticosterone in DR rats following leptin injection is not observed in DIO rats. Bars with different notations are significantly different from each other (p？<？0.05). * indicates significant difference from the rest of the groups (p？<？0.05). 6–8 rats/grou