Figure 6.
Chemogenetic activation of Gαi signaling in the BLA is sufficient to induce reinstatement of nicotine CPP. A, Diagram of hM4D(Gi) DREADD viral injections into BLA and subsequent behavioral experiments. B, Diagram of viral injection into the BLA (left) and IHC 20× confocal images of hM4D(Gi) DREADD (middle) and control (mCitrine packaged under CaMKIIα promoter with no receptor, right) viral expression in the BLA. mCitrine (cyan), c-fos (red), and Nissl (blue). Scale bars, 50 μm. C, Diagram with marks that indicate viral spread in mice included in behavioral dataset. D, Activation of hM4D(Gi) DREADDs in the BLA by CNO is sufficient to induce nicotine CPP reinstatement. E, No differences in locomotor activity before or after DREADD activation between Gαi and controls. n = 9–10 per group, *p < 0.01.