Fig. 9
Optogenetic inhibition of mPOA Esr1+ neurons disrupts pup retrieval in both virgin and lactating females. a In virgin females, light was delivered when animals were within pre-specified distance to pups, number of pup contacts, percentage of trials with pup retrieval behavior, and number of pups retrieved to the nest were plotted and compared between no-light and light trials for both GtACR1 and control females. N = 7 EYFP and 8 GtACR1. b In virgin females, a 5 s light pulse was delivered after initiation of each retrieval, cumulative distribution of retrieval duration and the percentage of retrieval bouts that brought a pup to the nest were plotted and compared between GtACR1 and control females. N = 3 EYFP and 3 GtACR1. c In virgin females, 10 s light pulses were delivered during crouching, cumulative distribution of crouching duration was plotted and compared between GtACR1 and control females. N = 3 EYFP and 2 GtACR1. d–f In lactating females, light was delivered when animals were within pre-specified distance to pups (d), or a 5 s light pulse was delivered after initiation of retrieval (e), or 10 s light pulses were delivered during crouching (f), and similar parameters were plotted as in virgin females. In d, N = 5 EYFP and 8 GtACR1; in e, N = 3 EYFP and 6 GtACR1; In f, N = 3 EYFP and 5 GtACR1. In a and d, t test or Wilcoxon rank sum test, left and right, Fisher’s exact test, middle. In b and e, ks-test, left, Fisher’s exact test, right. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001
