Fig. 1: A smaller ensemble is recruited after repeated cocaine-context associations.
From: Cocaine-context memories are transcriptionally encoded in nucleus accumbens Arc ensembles
a Experimental design for acute vs. repeated experimenter-administered cocaine regimens in male C57BL/6 J mice. IHC Immunohistochemistry. Ctxt context, Coc cocaine. b Arc mRNA expression in NAc. n = 7, acute; n = 10, repeated. Two-way ANOVA: interaction regimen x drug, F1,30 = 3.897, p = 0.058; main effect of regimen, F1,30 = 9.577, **p = 0.0042; main effect of drug, F1,30 = 22.04, ***p < 0.0001; followed by a Šidák post-hoc tests. c Correlation between Arc mRNA levels and cocaine-induced locomotion. Acute (left): n = 14, Pearson’s r = 0.8418, ***p = 0.0002. Repeated (right): n = 20; Pearson’s r = 0.1069, p = 0.6536. d Representative images of ARC+ cells (green, ARC+ ensemble) in NAc. Scale bar, 50 µM. e Number of ARC+ cells in NAc. n = 4, acute/ctxt only; n = 7, acute/ctxt + coc; n = 6, repeated/ctxt only; n = 7, repeated/ctxt+coc. Two-way ANOVA: interaction regimen x drug, F1,20 = 21.04, ***p = 0.0002; main effect of regimen, F1,20 = 3.050, p = 0.0961; main effect of drug, F1,20 = 31.07, ***p < 0.0001; followed by Šidák post-hoc tests. f Correlation between the number of ARC+ cells and cocaine-induced locomotion. Acute (left): n = 11; Pearson’s r = 0.8559, ***p = 0.0008. Repeated (right): n = 13; Pearson’s r = 0.1904, p = 0.5333. Bar graphs are expressed as mean ± SEM. Correlation graphs show the regression line with a 95% confidence interval. Source data are provided as a Source Data File. Created in BioRender. Parise, E. (2025) https://BioRender.com/voi7l54.
