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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jul 25.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Neurosci. 2021 Jan 25;24(3):379–390. doi: 10.1038/s41593-020-00772-7

Figure 7. Selective vArky inhibition attenuates consumption-related inhibition of NAcSh firing and reduces length of reward consumption bouts.

Figure 7.

(a) Experimental schematic using a retrograde viral strategy to selectively inhibit vArky neurons in a closed-loop manner (b) Representative unit waveform and raster plot of firing aligned to drinking bout onset during control trials (NO LASER) and trials where vArky neurons were inhibited (LASER). (c) Relative to control trials (−35.5 ± 5.89%), when vArky neurons were inhibited, the consumption-related inhibition of mNAcSh neurons was attenuated (−25.6 ± 4.3%, RMANOVA FLaserxtime = 4.136 p = 0.0018). (d-f) Relative to baseline, closed-loop optogenetic inhibition of vArky neurons reduced total drinking time (n=8 eYFP, 12 ARCH, eYFP Pre:158.309 ± 18.1 Post: 156.63 ± 19.17, ARCH Pre: 182.45 ± 13.89 Post:152.58 ± 17.22, Fvirusxtime=6.94 p=0.018), and mean bout length (eYFP Pre: 33.18 ± 3.73 Post: 36.29 ± 5.21 ARCH Pre: 37 ± 4.19, Post: 40.06 ± 5.96, Fvirusxtime=0.01 p=0.981), but not the number of drinking bouts (eYFP Pre: 33.19 ± 3.73 Post: 36.29 ± 5.21 ARCH Pre: 37.00 ± 4.19 Post: 40.06 ± 5.96, Fvirusxtime=0.01 p=0.991). (g) Distribution of individual bout lengths with and without laser stimulation (KS eYFP: D=0.098, p=0.201, KS ARCH: D=0.282, p<0.001). Scale bar = 25 μV, 10 msec. Bars = means ± sem. *p<0.01.