Fig. 2

BLA shows an intermediate level of dopaminergic axon labeling compared to NAC and PFC. A–C Confocal images showing tdTomato labeled dopaminergic axons in A prefrontal cortex (PFC), B nucleus accumbens (NAC), and C basolateral amygdala (BLA). The contour of BLA was drawn with a grey line according to Allen Mouse Brain Atlas. D Quantification of tdTomato fluorescence intensity in each target region. Individual intensity values were normalized to average NAC intensity and expressed as log2 ratios. There is a significant difference across regions: one-way repeated measures ANOVA, F(2,6) = 19.96, p = 0.0022, effect size (eta squared) = 0.8693, n = 4 mice per region. Multiple comparison tests indicate: **, NAC vs. BLA, p = 0.0033, effect size = 3.21; *, BLA vs. PFC, p = 0.0279, effect size = 2.15; ***, NAC vs. PFC, p = 0.0008, effect size = 4.73. Scale bar represents 500 µm. Error bars represent Mean ± SEM