Figure 6. Arc immunoreactivity in subcortical areas of nicotine- or saline-treated mice with or without guanfacine administration before a swim stress.

Guanfacine appeared to reduce Arc-immunoreactivity in the BLA of (a) male mice and (b) female mice overall, but neither effect was significant. In the CeL of both (c) male and (d) female mice, nicotine significantly decreased Arc-immunoreactivity, and guanfacine significantly increased Arc-immunoreactivity. In the NAc core, similar to the BLA, guanfacine appeared to decrease mean Arc-immunoreactivity in (e) male mice and (f) female mice, but neither effect was significant. (g, h) There were no main effects of conditioning group or pre-stress treatment and no interaction effects in the NAc shell of male and female mice. n = 5-6 per group. S = saline, G = guanfacine, *p < 0.05