Fig. 9: Context-specific vCA1 neuronal activity is involved in the acquisition of contextual fear memory.
From: Encoding of contextual fear memory in hippocampal–amygdala circuit
a Left: experimental setup for b and c. vCA1 neurons active in Context A expressed hM4Di-mCherry (hM4Di group) or mCherry (mCherry group) in Arc-CreERT2 mice. Right: images showing mCherry-labeled vCA1 neurons (yellow). b Behavioral training and testing protocols for c. After labeling Context A vCA1 neurons, mice received a CNO or vehicle injection 30 min before fear conditioning in Context A and were tested for fear memory in Context A 24 h later. c Comparison of freezing behavior in Context A on the test days in the hM4Di (12 mice; **p = 0.004, CNO vs. vehicle; *p = 0.016) and mCherry control groups (8 mice; p = 1.00, CNO vs. vehicle) (two-way ANOVA with post hoc comparisons; group × treatment interaction, p = 0.023). d Left: experimental setup for e and f. vCA1 neurons active in Context B were labeled with hM4Di-mCherry. Right: images showing mCherry-labeled vCA1 neurons (yellow). e After labeling Context B vCA1 neurons, mice received a CNO or vehicle injection 30 min before fear conditioning in Context A and were tested for fear memory in Context A 24 h later. f Comparison of freezing behavior in Context A on the test days (7 mice; p = 0.18, CNO vs. vehicle; two-sided paired t-test). Error bars represent the SEM. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. See also Supplementary Figs. 20–21.
