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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Feb 1.
Published in final edited form as: Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Aug 17;85(3):237–247. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.07.027

Figure 2. Activation of vPAG DA neurons promotes wakefulness without causing hyperactivity.

Figure 2.

A) AAV-hSyn-DIO-hM3D(Gq)-mCherry was injected into the vPAG of TH-Cre+ mice and wild-type littermates. B) mCherry was expressed in a large proportion of TH-containing vPAGDA cells. C) mCherry (magenta) was expressed in TH-Cre+ mice, but not TH-Cre-mice, and overlapped with TH (green). D) DREADD expression in TH-Cre+ mice did not extend into the DNR or RLi in 67% of subjects. All scale bars = 100 μm. E-F) CNO (1 mg/kg, i.p.) promoted wakefulness in DREADD-expressing mice (E-F) but not in non-DREADD-expressing controls (F; n=11–12; n.s. = not statistically different; ***p < 0.001). G-H) CNO modestly decreased locomotor activity in DREADD-expressing mice (H; n = 12, main effect of drug *p < 0.05) but not in non-DREADD-expressing controls (G; n = 11, n.s. = not statistically significant).