FIGURE 6.

Targeted expression and light activation of optoA_2AR in the dHPC prevents the memory improvement caused by caffeine consumption. (A) Selected expression of AAV-optoA_2AR or AAV-mCherry in the dHPC (Scale bar = 500 μm). (B) Behavior of mice in the Novel Object Recognition (NOR) test (n = 7 mice per group). C Behavior of the four groups of mice in the Y-maze test (n = 7 mice per group). Light stimulation of opto-A_2AR in the dHPC increased the time spent exploring a novel object during the testing trial (B; *p < .05 using a two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc t-test) and the time spent in the novel arm during the retrieval phase (C; *p < .05 using a two-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc t-test). (D) Light stimulation for 5 min induced c-Fos expression in optoA_2AR-positive cells but not in cells transfected with AAV-mCherry. Representative images (left) and data (right) are presented. n = 27 fields per group (3 fields per section, three sections per mouse, three mice per group); Scale bar = 50 μm; **p < .001, Student’s t-test comparing optoA2AR with mCherry. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM.