Fig. 5: Silencing AVP+ terminals from the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) to the lateral septum (LS) impairs sociability and social aggression. | Nature Communications

Fig. 5: Silencing AVP+ terminals from the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) to the lateral septum (LS) impairs sociability and social aggression.

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

Fig. 5

a Avp-Cre mice and WT littermates injected bilaterally with AAV2/1hSyn1-DIO-eOPN3-mScarlet-WPRE in BNST with a fiber optic placed in LS (Created in BioRender. Leroy, F. (2025) https://BioRender.com/oa87ggm). b Images of BNST and LS showing AVP+ cells labeled with the virus (scale bar: 300 μm) and the trace of the optical ferrule tip (scale bar: 200 μm). c Experimental timeline. d Schematic of the sociability test (Created in BioRender. Leroy, F. (2025) https://BioRender.com/yy20hso). e Interaction times with empty and social cups in light-on condition (9 mice/group. Paired t test, WT: p < 0.0001; Cre: p = 0.02). f Discrimination indexes for social preference in light-on condition (9 mice/group. Unpaired t test: p < 0.0001). g Interaction times with social or empty cup in light-off condition (9 mice/group. Paired t test, WT: p = 0.02; Cre: p = 0.01). h Discrimination indexes for social preference in the light-off condition (9 mice/group. Unpaired t test: p = 0.5). i Social interaction time in light-off vs. light-on condition for Avp-Cre mice (9 mice. Paired t test: p = 0.02). j Schematic of the resident-intruder test (Created in BioRender. Leroy, F. (2025) https://BioRender.com/vyq5lxl). k Proportions of mice showing only social exploration, social exploration and dominance without aggression, or aggression (8/10 mice. Chi-square test: χ²(2) = 7.51, p = 0.02). l Social exploration times in light-off and light-on conditions for Avp-Cre mice (9 mice. Paired t test: p = 0.002). m Number of attacks in light-on condition (8/10 mice. Paired t test: p = 0.04). n Number of attacks in light-off condition (8/10 mice. Unpaired t test: p = 0.5). o Attack durations between light-off and light-on (8/10 mice. Unpaired t test, light-off: p = 0.6; light-on: p = 0.06). For the entire figure, bar graphs show mean ± s.e.m. Each point is one mouse. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, **** p < 0.0001. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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