Fig. 3. DAergic projections to the LS, not NAc, promote aggression.
a, f Schematic diagrams for terminal stimulation in vivo. b, c Heightened aggressive behavior was observed in pairs when DATIRESCre; Ai32 mutant mice were stimulated (blue) in LS DA terminals. No effect of LS stimulation was detected in locomotor activity in the d open field or e real-time place preference (RTPP). g, h Aggressive behavior was not altered with NAc DA terminal stimulation (blue). i DA terminal stimulation in the NAc increased locomotor activity in the open field, during alternating 3 min off and on bouts of 20 Hz stimulation only in DATIRESCre; Ai32 mutant mice. j The percentage of the time, over a 20 min session, spent in the stimulated zone during RTPP was significantly increased following stimulation in mutants. Also shown representative heat maps of the time spent in the stimulated zone of the chamber during RTPP. **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 compared with their respective controls; mean ± SEM; n = 16 pairs (b, c), 8–9/group (d), 12/group (e), 20 pairs (g, h) and 20/group (i, j), box plots represent median and IQR and whiskers extend to maximum and minimum values (d, i).