2.3. Determining changes in food intake and body weight in response to risperidone treatment

At 8 weeks of age, 24 C57BL/6J mice were divided into four treatment groups. After acclimatization to the experimental conditions, treatments were administered at the same time every day for 4 weeks. One group of mice was intraperitoneally injected with risperidone (2 mg/kg), while the control group was treated with saline. One group of mice was intraperitoneally injected with risperidone + lorcaserin (10 mg/kg), and one group of mice was intraperitoneally injected with lorcaserin only. Drug dosages were based on those used in previous rodent studies.²⁴, ²⁵, ²⁶ Body weight and food intake were measured weekly during the treatment period. Food intake was determined by calculating the difference between the given and remaining amounts of food after 24 hours. After the last experiments, brain tissue was collected for in situ hybridization and stored at −80°C until the assay.