Figure 1.

α1-GABA_AR deletion in cultured mouse neurons with Cre and in vivo lentivirus infectivity of mouse amygala. Panels a-f demonstrate the level of α1-GABA_AR subunit expression visualized with immunohistochemistry in LV-GFP-infected, untreated (no LV), and LV-Cre-infected primary mouse neurons from the floxed mouse line used for the remaining in vivo studies. a, Overlay of green fluorescent and Hoechst stain (blue) image depicting LV-GFP infection and chromatin-positive nuclei of neuronal cells. b, Immunocytochemistry for α1-GABA_AR (red) in same field as in a. c, Overlay of bright field Hoechst stain (blue) image of primary neuronal culture with no infection. d, Immunocytochemistry for α1-GABA_AR (red) in same field as in c. e, Overlay of bright field Hoechst stain (blue) image of primary neuronal culture with LV-Cre infection. f, Immunocytochemistry for α1-GABA_AR (red) in same field as in e. These data demonstrate the complete removal of α1-GABA_AR signal from cells infected with LV-Cre from this targeted, inducible, knock-out mouse strain. g–i, Low-power micrograph of cresyl violet staining (g), GFP fluorescence (h), and GFP fluorescence overlayed with Hoechst stain (i) in mouse with LV-GFP infection, demonstrating the dense infectivity of lentivirus in the mouse basolateral amygdala (BLA). Large arrow demonstrates target of infection in BLA. Also shown are central nucleus of amygdala (CeA) and lateral amygdala (LA).