Fig. 3: Activation of NPYDRN/vlPAG neurons ameliorates stress-induced anxiety-like behaviors.
From: Feedforward inhibition of stress by brainstem neuropeptide Y neurons
a Acute novelty stress-induced Fos (purple) signals in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN) of CNO-treated NPYmcherry and NPYhM3Dq mice. Representative images (a) and quantitative data (b). Scale bar: 200 μm. In (b) Two-sided unpaired Student’s t test with Welch’s correction. c The increase of serum corticosterone levels caused by novelty stress in CNO-treated NPYmCherry and NPYhM3Dq mice. Two-sided unpaired Student’s t test. d Schematic of behavioral test design after 2-h acute novelty stress with chemogenetic manipulation. e Representative EPM traces of different mouse groups. The gray shades indicate the closed arms. f Percentages of open-arm time in the EPM. Ordinary one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test. g Representative OFT traces of different mouse groups. The gray shades indicate the center of the arena. h Percentages of time, travel distance in the center area and total travel distance in OFT. Ordinary one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test. Stressed mice were subjected to acute novelty stress for 2 hs prior to behavioral tests, and all stressed mice received CNO injections. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. ‘n’ refers to mice number. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
