Figure 2.
Genetic ablation of CRFCeA neurons prevents stress-induced anxiety. A, Top, Experimental protocol. Bottom, Bilateral caspase3-mediated ablation of CRFCeA neurons increased the percentage of time spent on the open arms and percentage of open arm entries during the EPM test without affecting the number of closed arm entries. B, Time spent and the percentage of total distance traveled in the center of the OF were also increased without altering the total distance traveled. C, Example of CRF immunoreactivity in the CeA of control animal microinjected with eYFP+PBS (top) versus animal microinjected with eYFP+Caspase3 (bottom). Scale bar, 200 μm. Data are mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. Casp3 (caspase3), BLA (basolateral amygdala), CRF-IR (CRF immunoreactivity).