The data in the current studies parallel recent studies from do Carmo and colleagues indicating that, like endothelial function, renal injury was limited in MC4R mice even after a lifetime of obesity (do Carmo et al. 2009) and work from our own lab that indicates that stroke damage was entirely corrected by a diuretic antihypertensive in obese Zucker rats, despite no improvement in metabolic status (Osmond et al. 2010). Here, MC4R is linked to obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.