OXT and obesity due to melanocortin 4 receptor deficiency: Kirchgessner and Sclafani initially proposed that OT projections from the PVN to hindbrain were important in the control of food intake and body weight based on findings from their lab in which knife cuts that sever PVN-hindbrain projections were found to disrupt OT fibers (Kirchgessner et al., 1988) and result in hyperphagia and obesity (Kirchgessner and Sclafani, 1988).