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. 2023 Mar 31;14:1800. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36808-2

Fig. 4. Chemogenetic activation of LHb5HT2c or BNST5HT2c neurons modulates affective behaviors and binge alcohol consumption.

Fig. 4

A Surgical schematic and experimental timeline for BNST5HT2c chemogenetic activation experiments. B Representative viral infection in BNST. Similar viral infection was reproduced in n = 35 mice. C Social preference in the 3-chamber sociability test, pvirusXsex = 0.0192. D Social novelty preference in the 3-chamber sociability test. E Acoustic startle behavior in females (10 trials/dB), two-way repeated-measures ANOVA followed by Holm-Sidak’s post-hoc, pvirus = 0.0814, pvirusXdB = 0.0105. 3. F Acoustic startle behavior in males (10 trials/dB), two-way repeated measures ANOVA followed by Holm-Sidak’s post-hoc, pvirus = 0.0246, pvirusXdB = 0.0111. G Acoustic startle behavior 120 dB only (10 trials), pvirus = 0.0058, psex = 0.037. H Sucrose consumption, pvirus = 0.0387, psex = 0.0001. I 2 h Alcohol intake in DiD, pvirus = 0.0303, psex = 0.0007, psexXvirus = 0.0003. J 2 h Alcohol preference in DiD. K Surgical schematic and experimental timeline for LHb5HT2c chemogenetic activation experiments. L Representative viral infection in the LHb. Similar viral infection was reproduced in n = 31 mice. M Social preference in the 3-chamber sociability test. N Social novelty preference in the 3-chamber sociability test, pvirus = 0.0186. O Acoustic startle behavior, females (10 trials/dB), two-way repeated measures ANOVA followed by Holm-Sidak’s post-hoc, pvirus = 0.0084, pvirusXdB = 0.0051. P Acoustic startle behavior, males (10 trials/dB), two-way repeated measures ANOVA followed by Holm-Sidak’s post-hoc, pvirusXdB = 0.012. Q Acoustic startle behavior, 120 dB only (10 trials), psex = 0.0221, pvirus = 0.0031. R Sucrose consumption, pvirus < 0.0001, psex < 0.0001, pvirus × sex < 0.0001. S 2 h Alcohol consumption in DiD, pvirus = 0.0026, psex = 0.0301. T, 2 h Alcohol preference in DiD, pvirus = 0.0099, psex = 0.0696. BNST, Females: mcherry n = 8 mice, hM3Dq n = 9 mice; Males: mCherry n = 10 mice, hM3Dq n = 8 mice. LHb, Females: mCherry n = 9 mice, hM3Dq n = 7 mice; Males: mCherry n = 9 mice, hM3Dq n = 8 mice. Unless otherwise stated, statistical comparisons were performed using a two-way ANOVA followed by Holm-Sidak’s post-hoc. All data are presented as mean ± SEM. $ denotes effect of virus, @ denotes effect of sex, # denotes interaction (sex × virus or virus × stimulus strength), * denotes post-hoc p < 0.05, ** denotes post-hoc p < 0.01, *** denotes post-hoc p < 0.001, **** denotes post-hoc p < 0.0001. CNO: clozapine-n-oxide. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. Created with Biorender.com.