Fig. 6

Activation of monosynaptic projection from SOM-positive neurons in the mPFC to LS mitigatessocial deficits in SOM-Cre/Magel2 KO mice. A Schematic of viral injection for retrograde tracing from LS in KO mice. B (Left) Representative images displaying retro-AAV injection sites in LS (green). (Right) Fluorescence images of mPFC showing the retrograde labeled LS-projecting cells (in green). C Schematic showing the configuration for electrophysiological recording of the mPFC ^SOM -LS projection. D, E Representative traces (D) and statistical analysis (E) of optogenetic stimulation evoked IPSCs in LS neurons in ACSF and following sequential application of TTX (1 μmol/L), TTX + 4-AP (100 μmol/L) and PTX (50 μmol/L), respectively. Blue bar indicated optogenetic light stimulation (n = 14 neurons from 6 mice). F-I Representative heatmaps (F) and statistical analysis (G-I) of optogenetic activation of SOM-positive neurons in the rostral mPFC-LS pathway in the open field test in the mCherry (top) and ChR2 (bottom) groups. Sample size of 10 in G, H, I was calculated. All results are presented as mean ± SEM. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test. Unpaired Student’s t-test. ^***p < 0.001; ^###p < 0.001, ^^^p < 0.001 for novel mouse vs. novel object; ^$$$p < 0.001, compared to mCherry group; “ns” indicates not significantly different