Fig. 6: The IPN inhibits LDTg cholinergic neurons that innervate the VTA.
From: Dopamine control of social novelty preference is constrained by an interpeduncular-tegmentum circuit
a Schematics of AAV1-Cre injection in the VTA and retro-viral loxP-eGFP injection in the IPN of C57BL/6 mice. b Representative image of viral-mediated eGFP expression (green) in the LDTg immunostained with the ChAT marker (red). Scale bar 50 µm. c Magnified view of LDTg ChAT + neurons (left), viral-mediated eGFP + expression (middle) and their colocalization (right). Scale bar 20 µm. d Schematics of the viral strategy and recording strategy used to measure LDTg→VTA ChAT + responses upon IPN axon terminal photostimulation. e Representative current traces of LDTg→VTA ChAT + neuronal responses upon blue light photostimulation (450 nm, blue arrow) of IPN axon terminals recorded before (Control) and during exposure to picrotoxin (PTX). The average of 10 traces is represented by magenta (control) and turquoise (PTX) lines within each group. f Average of postsynaptic current peak amplitude (pA) in control and PTX conditions (n = 3 animals, 6 cells), unpaired two-tailed t test (t(5) = 3.410, P = 0.019). g Average of IPSCs response onset (ms) in the control and PTX groups after blue light (450 nm) stimulation, unpaired two-tailed t test (t(5) = 0.0881, P = 0.933). Data represent mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
