scRNA-seq of fasted or 1 hour refed mouse hypothalamus after 6 weeks of HFD

Immediate Early Genes such as Npas4 are induced as part of the rapid response to environmental stimuli to regulate future transcription. The hypothalamus is made up of distinct neuronal populations and nuclei that regulate homeostatic processes such as POMC neurons that regulate feeding. To date, specific roles of Immediate Early Genes have not been studied in POMC neurons or any other hypothalamic population. Here, we have generated a single cell transcriptomic dataset from the hypothalami of adult male mice that were fed a 60% high fat diet for 6 weeks after Npas4 gene knockout specifically in POMC neurons, with or without a 1 hour refeed after an overnight fast. Our aim was to use this dataset to identify genes that are rapidly regulated by refeeding within 1 hour, as well as potential long-term transcriptomic differences as a result of the Npas4 knockout, in the general POMC neuron population.