Extended Data Fig. 3: Optogenetic and chemogenetic inhibition of pre-LC^PDYN neurons.

a, Electrophysiological recording in fresh brain slices. Illumination with 473-nm light strongly suppressed firing of pre-LC^PDYN neurons expressing iC++ (10 out of 10 neurons from two mice). b, Representative image of AAV-DIO-iC++-eYFP expression in the pre-LC of a PDYN–Cre animal (one out of seven mice). c, Suppression of pre-LC^PDYN neurons did not affect water intake in water-deprived animals (n = 5). d, AAV-DIO-eYFP controls for optogenetic inhibition (n = 5). e, AAV-DIO-hM4Di(Gi)-mCherry was bilaterally injected into the pre-LC. Representative recording demonstrates chemogenetic inhibition of pre-LC^PDYN neurons by CNO (13 out of 14 neurons from two mice). f, Representative image of AAV-DIO-hM4Di(Gi)-mCherry expression in the pre-LC (one out of nine mice). g, Chemogenetic inhibition of pre-LC^PDYN neurons reduced sodium intake in sodium-depleted animals. The same manipulation did not affect thirst (n = 9). h, CNO administration did not affect thirst or sodium appetite in animals that were injected with AAV-DIO-mCherry (n = 7). Scale bars, 50 μm. **P < 0.01 by two-tailed Wilcoxon test. Data are mean ± s.e.m.