Fig. 4

Characterization of the extent of viral labeling in VTA and BLA. A Representative confocal images of coronal serial sections of VTA from male and female TH-Cre mice labeled with Cre-dependent tdTomato or SypGFP virus. B Quantification of viral-labeled cells in VTA showed no sex difference in SypGFP or tdTomato expression. Two-way ANOVA, Sex F(1,16) = 1.321, p = 0.2673; Label F(1,16) = 2.020, p = 0.1745; Interaction F(1,16) = 0.3318, p = 0.5726. Post hoc comparison, Male vs. Female, SypGFP p = 0.8051, tdTomato p = 0.3228. C Representative confocal images of coronal sections of BLA labeled with tdTomato (red) and nuclei counterstain DAPI (blue). BLA boundaries were defined in DAPI-counterstained sections. Viral labeling from VTA projections closely matched the cytoarchitectural boundary of BLA (including both the anterior (BLAa) and posterior (BLAp) parts of the basolateral amygdala in Allen Mouse Brain Atlas, right panel). Scale bars in A, C: 500 µm