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. 2024 Dec 19;7:1651. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-07372-2

Fig. 2. After one week of CFA injection, anxiety-like behaviors could be evoked by activation of VLT-projecting cACC (Cg2) neurons.

Fig. 2

a Schematic of the experimental design. b, c Schematic for specific infection of VLT-projecting cACC (Cg2) neurons with mCherry or hM3Dq-mCherry. Scale bar, 200 μm. d Representative images showed that intraperitoneal injection of CNO induced c-Fos expression in VLT-projecting cACC (Cg2) neurons with mCherry or hM3Dq-mCherry. Scale bar, 20 μm. e Percentage of labeled mCherry+ neurons expressing c-Fos in mCherry+CNO group and hM3Dq-mCherry+CNO group. f Statistical results of time spent in the open arms in the EPM test. g Representative images of movement trajectory (top) and activity time (bottom) in the EPM test. h, i Statistical results of time spent in the central area and total distance traveled in the OFT. j Representative images of movement trajectory (top) and activity time (bottom) in the OFT. Data are the mean ± SEM; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, NS not significant. CFA complete Freund’s adjuvant, VLT ventral lateral thalamus, cACC caudal anterior cingulate cortex, Cg2 cingulate area 2, CNO Clozapine N-oxide, EPM elevated plus maze, OFT open field test.