The ob/ob mouse has been used previously to model the effects of obesity on stroke outcome as it becomes obese due to its lack of leptin.25,39 However, rather than as a model of obesity, the ob/ob mouse was used here as a model of known enhanced ischaemic BBB damage in which to study what changes in vascular structure correlated spatially and temporally with BBB breakdown. The gene discussed is LEP; the disease is obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency.