(A) Representative composite images (individual images, 10x) of coronal brain sections from SOM-Ai14 (red) mice labeled with PV-antibody (green). Sections span anterior, middle, and posterior portions of the nRT. Left: full coronal slices; nRT outlined in white. Right: higher-magnification images of the nRT. Scale bar: 500 μm.
(B) Confocal images (20x) of the head, middle, and tail portions of the somatosensory nRT. Scale bar: 20 μm. Middle portion divided into tiers by white lines.
(C) High magnification confocal images showing examples of non-overlapping populations of individual neurons labeled for either PV (green) or SOM (red). Scale bar: 20 μm.
(D) Confocal Z-stack (25 slices, depth: 9.32 μm, 0.37 μm interval) showing a population of non-overlapping red SOM cells and a single green PV cell. Scale bar, 20 μm.
(E) Left, quantification of nRT neurons expressing markers for PV (grey), SOM (black), or both (overlay, orange). Data represent mean ± SEM analyzed with a Mann-Whitney test and α=0.05. (*p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001). Analysis includes 4 mice (n=2 slices per mouse, 1 image per nRT region). Right, divisions of nRT into “head,” “middle,” and “tail.” Middle was divided into tiers from most medial (1), central (2), and most lateral (3) according to (Lam and Sherman, 2011; Pinault and Deschenes, 1998). nRT, nuclear reticular thalamus. See also Figure S1.