Extended Data Fig. 5: Additional DA-related protein and immunofluorescence data.

a, Overlay of images of DA terminals in the NAc (n = 9 mouse pairs). Scale bar = 400 μm. b, Schematic of patch clamp. c, Representative traces showing action potential firing of VTADA neurons. d, Intrinsic excitability of VTA^DA neurons from dominant (n = 4 cells) and subordinate (n = 3 cells) mice. Two-way ANOVA. APS, action potentials. e,f, Representative western blot images (e) and relative levels (f) of ERK/pERK in the NAc (n = 8 rat pairs). Two-sided paired t test, *P < 0.05. g, Overlay of images showing TH-positive terminals in the mPFC (n = 9 mouse pairs). Scale bar = 400 μm. h, The percentage of the PrL area covered by DA terminals across different layers. Two-sided paired t test, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. i, Representative images (i) and quantification (j) of DA varicosities in the PrL layer 2–5 (n = 18 slices from four mouse pairs) and along DA axon branches (n = 26 axon branches from three mouse pairs). Two-sided unpaired t test, ***P < 0.001. k, Schematic showing sparsely labeling DA neurons in the VTA. l, Representative sections showing VTA^DA neurons, and DA terminals in the NAc and mPFC by VISoR. Scale bar = 2 mm. m, Overlay of seven reconstructed mPFC-projecting neurons (one neuron from a subordinate; six neurons from four dominants) registered to a reference brain. n, Number of labeled VTA^DA neurons in the subordinate (n = 4) and dominant (n = 3) mice. Two-sided unpaired t test. o, Proportion of mPFC-projecting VTA^DA neurons in the dominant (n = 3 mice) and subordinate (n = 4 mice) mice. Two-sided unpaired t test, *P < 0.05. p,q, GFP-labeled fluorescence in the NAc (p) and mPFC (q) in the dominant (n = 5) and subordinate (n = 5) mice. Two-sided unpaired t test, **P < 0.01. Data are represented as mean ± s.e.m. Detailed statistical information is available in Supplementary Table 1.

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