Extended Data Fig. 8: Behavioral impacts of MCH signaling in the dLS.

a, Light microscope image of sample coronal brain slices illustrating the guide and internal cannula tracks. Tracks of injector tips are labeled by stars. b-e, RotaRod Motor learning task data. b&d, pooled data for the first 10 trials, in which speed accelerated from 4–40 revolutions/min in 300 s. Two-way ANOVA test was used. b, animals x treatment p = 0.9602, treatment p = 0.464. d, animals x treatment p = 0.9509, treatment p = 0.5329. c&e, Pooled data from the last 2 trials, in which speed accelerated from 4–40 revolutions/min in150s. Two-way ANOVA test was used. c, animals x treatment p = 0.1222, treatment p = 0.2944. e, animals x treatment p = 0.0776, treatment p = 0.4157. f-k, Performance on the locomotor open field test with patterned wall. n = 6,7,7 in control, MCH and Tc-MCH7c groups. One-way ANOVA test with posthoc Tukey’s multiple comparison were used for all analysis. f, Schematic of the testing arena. g, Distance traveled under each treatment condition. F(2,17)=0.1059,p = 0.9001. h, Time spent in center time under each treatment condition. Treatment F(2,17)=2.124, p = 0.1501. i,Time spent active under each treatment condition. Treatment F(2,17)=0.2081, p = 0.8142. j, Movement velocity under each treatment condition. treatment F(2,17)=0.1037, p = 0.902. k, Time spent near patterned walls under each treatment condition. Treatment F(2,17)=4.522, *p = 0.0.0266; Control vs. Ala17]MCH, p = 0.0477, [Ala17]MCH vs. TC-MCH7c, p = 0.0482. l-n Social recognition behavior with or without MCHR1 agonist. Metric=time (%) spent in the side of each chamber (Chamber 1: familiar mouse; Chamber 2: novel mouse). m, Preference for chamber 1: Two-way ANOVA test was used for statistics, F(1,11)=8.459, p = 0.0142. n, Data showing a shifted preference, n = 7 and 6 in control and MCH groups, respectively. Unpaired Two-tailed Student’s t-test was used: p = 0.04. o&p, Nesting behavioral analyses. Metric = arbitrary nesting scores. o, Two-way ANOVA test with posthoc Tukey’s multiple comparison were used for statistics, treatment x day F(6,44)=0.7998, p = 0.5754, treatment F(1.985, 43.68)=67.51, p < 0.0001; Control vs. [Ala17]MCH p = 0.0106, Control vs. TC-MCH7c p < 0.0001, [Ala17]MCH vs. TC-MCH7c, p < 0.0001. p, Average nesting score over 4 days. F(2,19)=30.36, p < 0.0001. Posthoc Tukey’s multiple comparison, Control vs. MCH_{: p=0.0096}; Control vs. TC-MCH7c, p < 0.0001; MCH vs. TC-MCH7c, p < 0.0001. Data are presented as mean ± SEM, * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.