Fig. 1: VP GABA and glutamate neurons are activated by approach to rewarding and novel stimuli.

GCaMP fluorescence recorded from A VP GABA (n = 6 mice) and B VP Glut neurons (n = 7 mice) upon interaction with a high fat high sucrose (HFHS) food pellet (t = 0 s), comparing the first 10 (blue traces) and last 10 interactions (red traces). Insets show mean peak z-score per animal during specified periods (baseline, pre-event, and event) associated with the first 10 HFHS interactions (top), and during the initial 1-s of the first 10 vs. last 10 interactions with HFHS (bottom). GCaMP signals from (C). VP GABA (n = 6 mice) and (D). Glut neurons (n = 6 mice) upon interaction with a novel object (marble, t = 0 s). Insets similar to A & B. GCaMP signals from (E). VP GABA (n = 5 mice) and (F). Glut neurons (n = 4 mice) upon initiating a bout of licking strawberry milk (t = 0 s). Licking bouts with 1-2 s (green), 2-5 s (magenta), 5-10 s (blue), 10-20 s (black), and 20 s or more (red) inter-lick interval (ILI) are represented. Bouts with longer ILI resulted in progressively greater peak GCaMP responses upon bout initiation. Top inset shows mean peak z-score per animal during specified periods (baseline, pre-event, and event) associated with the 20+s ILI bout onset (top). Bottom inset shows mean peak z-score per animal during the initial 1 s of bouts with specified ILIs (1-2, 2-5, 5-10, 10-20 and 20+s), and associated mean linear regression. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 by Tukey post-hoc following one-way ANOVA; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01 by two-tailed paired t-test. Data are represented as mean ± SEM. See Tables S1 and S2, also Fig. S1. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.