NTS and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency: In the periphery, controversial data have been obtained: decreased peripheral concentrations of neurotensin were detected in morbidly obese patients (Weiss et al., 2001), while another study described a higher risk for high fat diet-induced obesity in mice with higher concentrations of peripheral pro-neurotensin (Li et al., 2016) possibly reflecting species differences.