Fig. 3: Boost of aIC neuronal responses to social investigation by (R)-ketamine.

a Experimental timeline and schematic of fiber photometry recording in social isolation- or group- reared mice during the three-chamber test. Neuronal activity of the aIC in social isolation-reared mice was observed during nonsequential interactions with a novel mouse or object in the 1st-3-chamber test with saline treatment (b, d, and f) and the 2nd-3-chamber test with drug treatment (c, e, and g for saline, 20 mg/kg (R)-ketamine, and 20 mg/kg (S)-ketamine; n = 5, 7, and 7, respectively). The right graphs show the quantification of social (orange) or object (gray) contact-evoked normalized GCaMP6f signals (mean evoked z-score of 0‒3 s at post-contact subtracted by the mean baseline z-score of −3‒0 s at pre-contact). Statistical analysis was performed using paired t test. *p < 0.05. Neuronal activity of the aIC in group-reared mice was observed in nonsequential interactions with a novel mouse or object in the 1st-3-chamber test (h) and 2nd-3-chamber test (i) with saline treatment (n = 7). The right graphs show the quantification of social (orange) or object (gray) contact-evoked normalized GCaMP6f signals (mean evoked z-score of 0‒3 s at post-contact subtracted by the mean baseline z-score of −3–0 s at pre-contact). Dashed lines indicate the onset of contact. Statistical analysis was performed using paired t test. *p < 0.05. Data are presented as the mean ± s.e.m.