Fig. 4
From: Midbrain circuit regulation of individual alcohol drinking behaviors in mice
Alcohol drinking mice display different firing properties in the VTA-NAc pathway. a Timeline of circuit dissecting electrophysiological experiments. b Colocalization of retrograded microbeads (Lumafluor/Luma) from NAc in TH+ neurons of the VTA (n = 138 cells from 4 mice, scale bar = 50 μm). c Colocalization of retrograded AAV5-DIO-eYFP from NAc in TH+ (dopamine, DA) neurons of the VTA (n = 153 cells from 5 mice, scale bar = 25 μm). d Representative spontaneous firing rate traces (left) and grouped average firing rate (right) of VTA-NAc dopamine neurons in EtOH naive, low alcohol drinking, and high alcohol drinking mice (one-way ANOVA: F(2, 12.87) = 25.74, P < 0.0001; post hoc Bonferroni-multiple comparison test, ***P < 0.001. n = 39 cells from 7 mice; n = 30 cells from 7 mice; n = 43 cells from 9 mice). e Correlation of average VTA-NAc neuron firing rate and EtOH preference from alcohol drinking mice (r2 = 0.6748, P < 0.0001. n = 16 mice). f Correlation between average VTA-NAc neuron firing rate and EtOH intake across 24 h from alcohol drinking mice (r2 = 0.5481, P < 0.001. n = 16 mice). Data represented as mean + S.E.M.
