Figure 6.
Conditional restoration of NMDAR signaling to ventral midbrain dopamine neurons prevents generalized anxiety–like behavior. (a) Low magnification of ventral midbrain (top) demonstrating HA–NR1 (green) is predominantly localized to the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)–positive region of the VTA and not the SNc (scale bar = 500 μm). High magnification (bottom) shows HA–NR1 co–localized with TH–positive neurons (scale bar = 25 μm). (b) Evoked AMPAR and NMDAR–mediated EPSCs from control, knockout, and virally rescued knockout mice. (c–e) Expression of HA–NR1 in knockout mice prevents generalized anxiety–like behavior: (c) ASR, (d) frequency of open arm entries in the elevated–plus maze, and (e) frequency of center crossing in the open–field before and after foot shock conditioning in novel context (control, n = 11 and virally rescued knockout, n = 11). Error bars represent s.e.m.