Fig. 1

Viral labeling of dopaminergic projections from VTA to forebrain target regions. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunostaining on brain sections from TH-Cre mice with AAV–CAG–Flex–tdTomato viral injection into the ventral tegmental area (VTA) shows extensive co-labeling between TH (green) and tdTomato (red). Confocal fluorescent microscopy was used to image several major forebrain projection targets of VTA dopamine neurons. A Prefrontal cortex (PFC) [2.0 bregma]. B Basolateral amygdala (BLA) [− 2.0 bregma]. C Nucleus accumbens (NAC) [1.1 bregma]. D VTA images at the injection site of tdTomato virus (red) [− 3.1 bregma]. Images were acquired at 10 × magnification. The scale bar represents 500 µm