KISS1 and Obesity: In the present study, maternal obesity robustly upregulated MePD Kiss1 mRNA expression in pre-pubertal male and female offspring, whereas Kiss1 expression was not affected in the ARC and AVPV at this age; an unexpected finding given the notable role of hypothalamic kisspeptin in the control of puberty, given the established link between a pre-pubertal increase in hypothalamic kisspeptin signaling and occurrence of puberty [37,38].