Fig. 2: Dopamine neurons are the primary postsynaptic target of the SC–SNc pathway.
From: The tectonigral pathway regulates appetitive locomotion in predatory hunting in mice
a An example coronal section with ventral midbrain (left) and the high-magnification micrograph (right) showing the segregation of GAD2-tdT+ neurons and TH-GFP+ neurons in the SNc of GAD2-IRES-Cre/Ai14/TH-GFP triple transgenic mice. This experiment was repeated independently in five mice with similar results. b An example coronal section with ventral midbrain (left) and the high-magnification micrograph (right) showing the segregation of vGlut2-tdT+ neurons and TH-GFP+ neurons in the SNc of vGlut2-IRES-Cre/Ai14/TH-GFP triple transgenic mice. This experiment was repeated independently in five mice with similar results. c Schematic diagram showing injection of AAV-hSyn-ChR2-mCherry into the SC of GAD2-IRES-Cre/Ai14/TH-GFP or vGlut2-IRES-Cre/Ai14/TH-GFP mice (left) and whole-cell recording from TH-GFP+ (green), GAD2-tdT+ (red), or vGlut2-tdT+ (red) neurons while illuminating ChR2-positive axon terminals from the SC (right). d, e Example traces (d) and quantitative analyses (e) of oEPSCs and oIPSCs from TH-GFP+ and GAD2-tdT+ neurons in the slices of GAD2-IRES-Cre/Ai14/TH-GFP mice. f, g Example traces (f) and quantitative analyses (g) of oEPSCs and oIPSCs from TH-GFP+ and vGlut2-tdT+ neurons in the slices of vGlut2-IRES-Cre/Ai14/TH-GFP mice. Number of neurons is indicated in the graphs (e, g). Data in e, g are means ± SEM (error bars). Statistical analyses in e, g were performed by one-sided Student’s t-test (***P < 0.001). Scale bars are indicated in the graphs.
