What does ob/ob mean when talking about mice?

Question

What does ob/ob mean when talking about mice?

Answer 1

Whenever I'm talking about mice and i mention ob/ob I'm referring to the...

Answer 2

It represents the genes they have for a certain trait. Since there are  thousands of different genes for different traits I can't tell you exactly what it represents, but it does represent it's 2 inheirited genes for a certain trait.

Answer 3

The OB/OB mouse is a mouse that lacks the gene to make leptin.  As you may know, leptin is a protein secreted by fat cells that is anorexigenic (tells you to stop eating).  So mice lacking the ability to make leptin become obese because they seem to be lacking the signal that tells them not to eat.  Interestingly, if OB/OB mice are given leptin, they lose weight.  This started a huge interest in leptin as a potential weight-loss drug, with the rationale that maybe we could just give obese folks leptin, and this would cause them to stop eating and lose weight.

Interestingly, it was found that obese people actually have very high circulating levels of leptin.  So it was postulated that maybe leptin acts as an adipostat- it lets the brain know how much fat is in the body (which explains why obese people would have such high leptin levels).  People who are obese may have problems not with how much leptin they are making, but with their leptin receptors, which are responsible for relaying leptin's signals that tell us we do not need food.