Hypothalamic tissue was dissected as described previously 46 with a slight modification. Brains were rapidly removed from anesthetized animals. The brain was sliced coronally with a razor blade to generate a block spanning from the optic chiasm to the rostral end of the mammillary bodies. For RNA isolation or chIP assays the brain slice was immersed in RNA later or ice-cold PBS, respectively. The hypothalamic area was dissected by making two cuts at either end of the optic chiasm and a cut above the third ventricle. These cuts also generated two amygdala-enriched regions, lateral to the hypothalamus, and a cortex-enriched region dorsal to the external capsule. The dissected brain tissue was either snap-frozen for protein extraction or immersed in RNAlater for RNA extractions.
