Figure 5.

Chemogenetic modulation of BNST^CRF neurons during fear memory consolidation does not affect fear recalls. A, Distribution of BNST^CRF neurons illustrated by representative single-plane confocal photomicrographs from reporter ZsGreen fluorescent protein-expressing mouse lines and their proportional quantification (% of all neurons, NeuN+) across subregions. B, Representative photomicrographs of mCherry expression in BNST^CRF neurons and illustration of minimum (filled areas) and maximum (areas with colored outlines) extensions of mCherry expression. C, Intraperitoneal injection of CNO (1 mg/kg) under baseline (homecage) condition significantly increased c-Fos expression in hM3Dq-mCherry-expressing BNST^CRF neurons (control: n = 7, hM3Dq: n = 7, hM4Di n = 6). D and H, Illustrations depicting high (0.7-mA footshocks) and low-intensity (0.4-mA footshocks) fear conditioning in crh-ires-cre mice with CNO administration after conditioning. Fear recalls were independent of BNST manipulation following both high-intensity (F–G) and low-intensity (J–K) trainings. E and I, Freezing during high- and low-intensity trainings, respectively (control: n = 15 and n = 10, hM3Dq: n = 12 and n = 14 for low-intensity and high-intensity trainings, respectively; hM4Di: n = 13). Asterisks represent main effect of one-way ANOVA: **n < 0.01.