Fig. 3: The mPFC Foxp2+ neurons regulate both sensory and affective aspects of pain.
a Diagram of virus injection (left) and a representative image of TeNT-EYFP expression in the mPFC of Foxp2-Cre mice (right). Scale bar: 100 μm. b Left, diagram of von Frey test (VFT). Right, paw withdrawal threshold of the mice with EYFP (n = 7 mice) or TeNT-EYFP (n = 7 mice) expression assessed in VFT. c Diagram of hot plate test (HPT) (left) and paw withdrawal latency of the mice assessed in HPT (right). d Diagram of virus injection into the mPFC of Foxp2-Cre mice (left) and a representative image of hM3Dq-mCherry expression in the mPFC (right). Scale bar: 100 μm. e Paw withdrawal threshold assessed in VFT (left) and latency in HPT (right) of the mice with mCherry or hM3Dq-mCherry expression, respectively. n = 8 mice for each group. f Diagram of formalin test (left). Licking duration of the mice in response to formalin injection after CNO treatment (middle) and the summarized licking duration in phase 1 and phase 2 (right). g Diagram of CFA injection (left) and paw withdrawal threshold/latency assessed by VFT on post CFA day 2 (middle) and HPT on post CFA day 3 (right). n = 8 mice for each group. h Diagram of the conditioned place preference (CPP) test starting from post CFA day 5 (left). The time that mice spent in the chamber before and after the conditioning (middle) and CPP scores (right) of the mice in the CPP test. n = 8 mice for each group. Data are represented as mean ± SEM. ns no significant difference. Two-tailed unpaired t-test for b (t12 = 2.783), c (t12 = 2.693) and e (VFT, t14 = 4.400; HPT, t14 = 6.124); RM two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple comparison for f (F1,14 = 12.38) and h (middle, F1,14 = 3.589); Two-tailed unpaired t-test with Welch’s correction for g (VFT, t7.106 = 4.138; HPT, t9.333 = 3.459) and h (right, t8.663 = 2.360). Source data are provided as a Source Data file. Created in BioRender. Liu, Y. (2026) https://BioRender.com/jpcdwkx.
