Fig. 3.

Chemogenetic inactivation of the projection from the pmVTA to the AcbSh blocked relief learning. a The inlay indicates the injection sites of the viral DREADD construct (AAV8-CaMKIIa-hM4D(Gi)-mCherry) into the pmVTA and of vehicle (n = 10) and CNO (n = 14) into the AcbSh (see also Supplementary Figure 4). b CNO injections, i.e. inactivations of the pmVTA-AcbSh projection, blocked startle attenuation by the relief CS in the rats in which DREADD expression was histologically confirmed, but not in rats which received pmVTA injections of an inactive viral construct (i.e. without DREADD; CNO/control; n = 9). ^#p < 0.05 post hoc Dunnett’s comparison with vehicle difference score; *p < 0.05, post hoc Sydak’s multiple comparisons startle alone vs. CS-startle