Fig. 3

Increased gene transduction efficiency of AAV2-retro YF mutation in NAc-LHA pathway. A A schematic of the injection strategy targeting NAc-LHA projection. B Representative images of AAV2-retro-CAG-EGFP (top) and AAV2-retroYF-CAG-EGFP (bottom). The white arrows indicate EGFP-labeled neurons in the NAc. Scale bar, 100 μm. C The histogram of the fluorescent intensity of EGFP positive neurons in the NAc (n = 6 mice [original], n = 5 mice [mutant], p < 0.001, U = 45,325, Wilcoxon's rank sum test). D A schematic of retrograde transfer efficiency assay in the NAc-LHA circuits. The original or mutant virus was mixed with red retrobeads and injected into the LHA. E Representative images showing EGFP signals (green) and Red Retrobeads (magenta) in the contralateral S1. The white arrows indicate EGFP- and retrobeads-double positive neurons. Scale bar, 50 μm. F The mean ratio of the number of retrobeads- and EGFP-positive neurons out of all etrobeads IX-positive neurons (mean ± sem; n = 6 mice [original], n = 5 mice [mutant], p = 0.939, Welch's two-tailed t-test, t = 0.08176, df = 4.257)