Supplementary Figure 8: Optogenetic inhibition of VIP BLA interneurons during auditory fear conditioning.

a, Schematic illustrating the entire 5-day behavioral paradigm used for optogenetic loss-of-function experiments, including details about CS, US and yellow light pattern applied. b-c, Representative example images of bilateral expression of b, ArchT-GFP and c, GFP in VIP interneurons in the BLA of VIP-cre mice with corresponding optical fiber placement (dashed lines). Scale bar, 200 µm. d, Position of optical fiber tips (symbols) and maximum virus spread (shades) in all mice included in optogenetic experiments matched to a mouse brain atlas. LA, lateral amygdala; BA, basal amygdala; CEA, central amygdala. e, CS presentations on habituation day do not induce freezing in naïve mice. f, Optogenetic inhibition of VIP BLA interneurons has no effect on freezing during or after yellow light stimulus presentation in naïve mice (ISI, inter-stimulus interval). g, Similarly, light stimulation during the habituation session does not affect running speed in either of the light-treated groups. h, Maximum acceleration during the aversive US during fear conditioning. i, Left to right, distance travelled, maximum speed and maximum acceleration during the aversive US during reconditioning. j, Post-shock freezing during reconditioning (Kruskal-Wallis test, H=6.437, P=0.04; Dunn’s multiple comparisons test, ArchT vs GFP, P=0.0398). k, Optogenetic inhibition of VIP BLA interneurons for 4.5 s or 10 s at the end of the retrieval 2 session does not affect freezing behavior. For panels d-k: ArchT, N=14 mice; GFP, N=11; ArchT no light ctrl, N=12. Confocal images are representative for N=26 mice (b), N=11 (c). Box-and-whisker plots show median values and 25^th/75^th percentiles with 10^th to 90^th percentile whiskers, dots additionally indicate the mean. * P<0.05. Details of statistical analysis are listed in Supplementary Table 3.