Fig. 4
Chemogenetic activation of oxytocinergic neurons enhances socially transmitted fear in unfamiliar male mice. a Schematic of construct used for viral incorporation of the rM3D(Gs) receptor before and after Cre-dependent recombination. b Schematic of Cre recombinase transgene insertion at the mouse oxytocin gene. c Representative c-fos and mCherry immunoreactivity within the paraventricular nuclei (PVN; dashed outline) expressing rM3D(Gs) receptors (scale bar, 100 μm) and magnified view of co-labeled c-Fos+/mCherry-expressing neurons. d Quantification indicating significantly elevated percentage of c-Fos+/DAPI cells within the PVN of CNO-treated mice (3 mg/kg, I.P.; green, n = 4 mice) compared to saline-treated controls (gray, n = 4 mice) expressing the rM3D(Gs) DREADD (two-tailed Student’s t-test: t(7) = 2.65, p = 0.050). e Administration of CNO (3 mg/kg, I.P.) 30 min prior to demonstrator conditioning enhanced freezing in unfamiliar male mice expressing rM3D(Gs) (green, n = 10) compared to saline-treated controls with rM3D(Gs) (gray, n = 9) and CNO-treated controls without rM3D(Gs) (white, n = 10) when averaged over conditioning trials (ANOVA: F 2,28 = 3.41, p = 0.048). White lines and gray boxes within bars indicate mean and s.e.m. of freezing counts, respectively, during acclimation. Black error bars represent s.e.m. *p < 0.05
