Fig 1: Effects of chemogenetic activation of AgRP neurons on chronic unpredictable stress-induced depressive behaviors.a Schematic illustration showing stereotaxic injection of AAV-DIO-hM3Dq-mCherry or AAV-DIO-mCherry in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) and the representative image showing mCherry labeled AgRP neurons in the ARC of AgRP-ires-Cre mice. b Top, representative traces of action potentials recorded in AgRP neurons infected with AAV-DIO-hM3Dq-mCherry in response to bath application of CNO (5 µM); bottom, firing rates before and after CNO application. c Representative images showing CNO induced c-Fos expression (green) in AAV-DIO-hM3Dq-mCherry-infected AgRP neurons (red). d Experimental timeline for male AgRP-ires-Cre mice. d1 Sucrose preference test before and after chronic unpredictable stress (CUS). d2 Female urine sniffing test after CUS without (left) or with CNO injection (right). d3 Forced swim test. d4 Locomotor activity. Ctrl + mCherry, n = 11; CUS + mCherry, n = 14; CUS + hM3Dq-mCherry, n = 10. e Experimental timeline for female AgRP-ires-Cre mice. e1 Sucrose preference test before and after CUS. e2 Forced swim test. e3 Locomotor activity. Ctrl + mCherry, n = 12; CUS + mCherry, n = 12; CUS + hM3Dq-mCherry, n = 14. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.