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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jul 16.
Published in final edited form as: Neuron. 2014 Jun 26;83(2):444–454. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.05.028

Figure 5. Tac2 overexpression in the central amygdala is sufficient to enhance fear memory consolidation and it is blocked by an Nk3R antagonist.

Figure 5

A) The lentivirus GFP-FUGW induces GFP expression but not Neurokinin B (NkB) in Hek293 cells. Scale bar = 10 μm. B) The lentivirus Tac2-FUGW induces NkB expression in Hek293 cells. DAPI staining (blue) indicates the cellular nuclei. NkB staining (red) is contrasted with GFP fluorescence (green). C) Tac2-FUGW or GFP-FUGW were bilaterally infused in the central amygdala and mice were left undisturbed for 14 days. D-E) The lentivius Tac2-FUGW causes a 42% overexpression of Tac2 in the central amygdala. ***P ≤0.001 vs LV-GFP. N= 9-15 per group. Scale bar = 250 μm. F) Timeline of the experiment. G) Tac2 overexpression in the central amygdala does not alter anxiety-like behavior evaluated by the time spent in the open arms in the elevated plus maze. N= 9-15. H) Left, the lentiviruses GFP-FUGW and Tac2-FUGW causes no changes in fear conditioning. Osanetant or vehicle were given systemically immediately after fear acquisition. Right) Tac2 overexpression enhances fear memory consolidation (LV-Tac2-Veh) and osanetant impairs this effect (LV-Tac2-Osa). N= 3-8 per group. *P≤0.05 vs LV-GFP-Veh, **P ≤0.01 vs all other groups. Mean + or ± SEM is shown. See also Figure S5.