LEP and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency: Given the observation that a high-fat diet was associated with fewer leptin-responsive neurons and astrocytes in the DVC (Fig. 2) and an attenuated hindbrain leptin response in vivo (Fig. 3), we next investigated maladaptive changes in the neuro-glia landscape of the DVC in response to obesity and, within the same rats, compared these changes to those observed in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus.