Fig. 3: Cell-type-specific manipulation of and TRAP isolation from CeA Drd2 population.

a Schematic of experimental design. b Representative expression pattern of mCherry-tag expression in Drd2 neurons of the amygdala. Scale bar: 200 μm. c Collapsed overlay of expression pattern of mCherry for Cre-expressing experimental animals. Expression is generally constrained to CeC and CeL with limited expression in CeM. d Mice were weakly fear conditioned to 5 CS/US pairings (6 kHz tone, 0.4 mA foot shock) (two-way RM ANOVA F(1,17) = 3.147, p = 0.094) (n = 9 DREADD and 10 Control, 1 mouse removed from DREADD group as significant outlier (Grubbs’ test)). Mice were injected i.p. with CNO 30 min prior to fear extinction session. Mice expressing Gs-DREADD-mCherry expressed significantly more fear during the entire extinction session than non-carrier controls (two-way RM ANOVA F(1,17) = 13.72, **p = 0.0018). Twenty-four hours later during the second extinction (retention) session mice expressing Gs-DREADD-mCherry expressed significantly more fear (two-way RM ANOVA F(1,17) = 11.29, *p = 0.0037). e Schematic of TRAP experiment. Animals were fear conditioned (5 CS/US, 0.65 mA foot shock) or exposed to training environment. Two hours later animals were sacrificed, 1 mm punches centered over CeA were taken and TRAP procedure was completed. f Selected differential expression results of fear conditioned vs. control animals with log-fold change on x-axis. Genes found to be downregulated following fear conditioning compared to controls (Blue, Leftward) include Erbb4, Dlk1, Parva, Ssh3, Ttr, and Kcnj13. Genes found to be upregulated following fear conditioning compared to controls (Red, Rightward) include Adora2a, Gpr6, Ppp1cc, Rxrg, Fgf3, Npy5r, Sstr5, Fkbp14, and Gprin3. BLA basolateral amygdala, CeC central capsular amygdala, CeL central lateral amygdala, CeM central medial amygdala, CP caudate putamen, GPe Globus Pallidus external, Intercalated Nuclei (IA). Scale bar: a–z 100 μm