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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Apr 23.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Neurosci. 2023 Jul 31;26(9):1529–1540. doi: 10.1038/s41593-023-01397-2

Fig. 6. MPOA GABAergic activity promotes DR serotonergic activity.

Fig. 6.

a, Schematic of recording from ChrimsonR-tagged serotonergic neurons in vlPAG/DR regions while activating MPOA GABAergic neurons. b, Images showing ChrimsonR-expressing neurons in DR and ChR2-expressing MPOA axons. Scale, 200μm. c, Raster plot of spikes of an example ChrimsonR-tagged neuron in response to activation of MPOA GABAergic neurons. Blue shade, 1s of 20-Hz photostimulation. Insert, similarity between spontaneous and LED-evoked spikes of the identified unit. d-e, Raster plots for 9 tagged (d) and 9 untagged (e) neurons in response to activation of MPOA GABAergic neurons. f, Fraction of tagged neurons (n = 84 from 3 animals) showing different types of responses. g, Fraction of untagged neurons (n = 72 from 3 animals) showing different types of responses. h, Fiber photometry recording of serotonin signals in DR while activating MPOA GABAergic neurons expressing ChrimsonR. i, Average 5-HT1.0 signals in response to light activation of MPOA neurons at different stimulation frequencies. j, Peak amplitude of relative fluorescence change at different stimulation frequencies for mCherry control (n = 2) and ChrimsonR (m = 2) animals. Error bar, s.d. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ****P<0.0001, two-way repeated measures ANOVA test with post hoc multiple comparisons, n = 7 trials in total. For exact P values, see Figure 6 Source Data. k, Slice whole-cell recording of vlPAG Vgat+, vlPAG Vglut2+, or DR Sert+ neurons in response to activation of MPOA axon terminals. l, Light-evoked IPSCs in an example vlPAG Vgat+ neuron, which was blocked by gabazine. m, Innervation probability for vlPAG Vgat+ (n= 12 cells from 4 Vgat-Cre::Ai14 mice), Vglut2+ (n = 11 cells from 3 Vglut2-Cre::Ai14 mice) and Dat+ (n = 9 cells from 3 Dat-Cre::Ai14 mice) neurons. n, Schematic of transsynaptic and intersectional labelling of MPOA-recipient vlPAG Vgat+ neurons. o, Images showing the labeled MPOA-recipient vlPAG Vgat+ neurons (1) and their terminals in DR (2). Scale, 500μm (left) and 40μm (right two panels).