Fig. 5. Knockdown of Lmo3 in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) reduces anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze (EPM).

Mice were infected in the BLA with a lentivirus expressing a control shRNA (shScr, n = 10) or an shRNA targeting Lmo3 (shLmo3, n = 13) and tested in the EPM three weeks after injection. A) Schematic of coronal brain section 1.6 mm posterior to bregma showing cannula insertion for injection (orange bars). The red box highlights the area of the photograph shown in B). B) Representative image of infection as exhibited by GFP immunohistochemistry (brown staining). Blue color is cresyl violet counterstain. C) Lmo3 expression as measured by qPCR in a separate group of mice than those that were tested in the EPM (n = 9 shLmo3 and 8 shScr). D) Open arm time. E) Percent entries into the open arm. F) Total number of arm entries. G) Total distance traveled. H) Open arm time of mice that were infected with lentivirus in the CeA. I) Percent entries into the open arm of mice that were infected with lentivirus in the CeA. J) Crhr1 expression in the BLA of the same mice used in C) to verify Lmo3 knockdown. *p < 0.05 by student’s t-test. Abbreviations: BLA, basolateral amygdala; CeA, central amygdala; LV, lateral ventricle; D3V, dorsal part of 3^rd ventricle; 3V, 3^rd ventricle; ec, external capsule; ic, internal capsule; mfb, medial forebrain bundle, opt, optic tract.