Fig. 2: Vasopressinergic system from BNST (bed nucleus of stria terminalis) to LS (lateral septum) is decreased in Shank3B+/- mice. | Nature Communications

Fig. 2: Vasopressinergic system from BNST (bed nucleus of stria terminalis) to LS (lateral septum) is decreased in Shank3B+/- mice.

From: Impaired vasopressin neuromodulation of the lateral septum leads to social behavior deficits in Shank3B+/- male mice

Fig. 2

a Avp-Cre mice injected unilaterally with AAV2/1 syn.FLEX.GcaMP6f.WPRE.SV40 in BNST (Created in BioRender. Leroy, F. (2025) https://BioRender.com/zzherf1). b Virally labeled AVP+ neurons in the BNST (left, scale: 400 μm) and AVP+ fibers in LS (right, scale: 600 μm; zoom: 70 μm). c Avp-Cre mice injected in LS with hEF1a.LSIL.GFP (Created in BioRender. Leroy, F. (2025) https://BioRender.com/h1jqlsw). d Retrogradely labeled AVP+ neurons in BNST (scale: 200 μm; zoom: 50 μm) and AVP+ fibers in LS (scale: 50 μm). e, f In situ hybridization picture of Avp mRNA in BNST (scale: 300 μm; zoom: 30 μm) and cell number (3 mice/group, 3 observations/mouse. Nested t test: p = 0.0001). g, h In situ hybridization picture of Avpr1a (scale: 200 μm; zoom: 50 μm) and cell number in WT and Shank3B+/- mice (3 mice/group, 3 observations/mouse. Nested t test: p = 0.002). i, j Immunohistochemistry of AVP+ fibers in anterior LS (scale: 400 μm) and quantification (10/11 mice/group. Unpaired t test: p = 0.002). k, l In situ hybridization for Avpr1a in LS (scale: 200 μm; zoom: 25 μm) and cell number (3 mice/group, 3 observations/mouse. Nested t test: p = 0.05). m Avp-Cre x Shank3B+/- and WT mice injected in the BNST with AAV2/9EF1a.DIO.hChR2(E123T/T159C).eYFP (Created in BioRender. Leroy, F. (2025) https://BioRender.com/zzherf1). n BNST AVP+ cells labeled for YFP and VGLUT1 (scale: 10 μm). o VGLUT1 clusters per ROI (4/6 mice, 7 observations/mouse. Nested t test: p = 0.0003). p VGLUT1 clusters per ROI surface unit (4/6 mice, 7 observations/mouse. Nested t test: p = 0.003). q Mean area of VGLUT1 clusters (4/6 mice, 7 observations/mouse. Nested t test: p = 0.02). For the entire figure, bar graphs show mean ± s.e.m.; each point is one observation. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

Back to article page