Figure 5. Neuritin prevents UCS-induced abnormal behavior and decreased serotonin axon branching. A, Schematic illustration of the experimental design for virus injection followed by UCS and behavioral tests. B, Schematic showing the viral constructs used in this study. The CMV promoter sequence was followed by neuritin, the T2A cleavage peptide from Thosea asigna virus, and EGFP (top). Example coronal section prepared after the behavioral tests showing the expression of GFP in the BLA region indicated by the white dotted line (left side). Scale bar, 1 mm (bottom). C, Time spent in the open arms of EMPT in nonstressed control and UCS mice infected with control or neuritin virus [n = 15 animals; two-way ANOVA followed by Sidak's posttest; virus × stress interaction, F(1,56) = 2.702; p = 0.1058; virus, F(1,56) = 0.7215; p = 0.3993; stress, F(1,56) = 6.822; p = 0.0115; **p = 0.0078 (control) and p = 0.7464 (neuritin; nonstress vs UCS, respectively); nonstress, p = 0.8207; and stress, p = 0.1598 (control vs neuritin)]. D, Latency time to feed in the NSFT [left; n = 15 animals; two-way ANOVA followed by Sidak's posttest; virus × stress interaction, F(1,56) = 8.076; p = 0.0062; virus, F(1,56) = 9.603; p = 0.0030; stress, F(1,56) = 13.64; p = 0.0005; ***p < 0.0001 (control) and p = 0.7969 (neuritin; nonstress vs UCS, respectively); nonstress, p = 0.9794; and stress, ***p = 0.0002 (control vs neuritin)] and food consumption of home cage feeding, following the NSFT [right; n = 15 animals; two-way ANOVA followed by Sidak's posttest; virus × stress interaction, F(1,56) = 0.05134; p = 0.8216; virus, F(1,56) = 0.0008; p = 0.9782; stress, F(1,56) = 0.1056; p = 0.7466; p = 0.9967 (control) and p = 0.9162 (neuritin; nonstress vs UCS, respectively); nonstress, p = 0.9803; and stress, p = 0.9873 (control vs neuritin)]. E, Sucrose intake index of the SPT in nonstressed control and UCS mice infected with control or neuritin virus [n = 15 animals; two-way ANOVA followed by Sidak's posttest; virus × stress interaction, F(1,56) = 3.881; p = 0.0538; virus, F(1,56) = 0.4476; p = 0.0388; stress, F(1,56) = 8.248; p = 0.0057; **p = 0.0023 (control) and p = 0.7755 (neuritin; nonstress vs UCS, respectively); nonstress, p = 0.9933; and stress, *p = 0.0109 (control vs neuritin)]. F, Immobility time of the TST in nonstressed control and UCS mice infected with control or neuritin virus [n = 15 animals; two-way ANOVA followed by Sidak's posttest; virus × stress interaction, F(1,56) = 0.2348; p = 0.6299; virus, F(1,56) = 0.9395; p = 0.3366; stress, F(1,56) = 11.17; p = 0.0015; *p = 0.0180 (control) and p = 0.0940 (neuritin) (nonstress vs UCS, respectively); nonstress, p = 0.9288; and stress, p = 0.5216 (control vs neuritin)]. G, Reconstructed flattened images of the BLA from both virus-injected control and UCS mice. Immunodetection of serotonin transporter-positive neurons is shown. Scale bar, 100 µm. H, Quantification of the number of branch points along serotonin transporter-positive axon and the volume of axons in the images [n = 4/6 region images/mouse; two-way ANOVA followed by Sidak's posttest; virus × stress interaction, F(1,20) = 1.820; p = 0.1924; virus, F(1,20) = 3.118; p = 0.0927; stress, F(1,20) = 0.6279; p = 0.0210; p = 0.0259 (control) and p = 0.6671 (neuritin; nonstress vs UCS, respectively); nonstress, p = 0.9477; and stress, p = 0.0775 (control vs neuritin; number of axonal branches); virus × stress interaction, F(1,20) = 2.333; p = 0.1423; virus, F(1,20) = 3.891; p = 0.0625; stress, F(1,20) = 7.367; p = 0.0134; *p = 0.0141 (control) and p = 0.6534 (neuritin; nonstress vs UCS, respectively); nonstress, p = 0.9406; and stress, *p = 0.0443 (control vs neuritin; axonal volume). The data are averaged and presented by mouse experimental group]. Error bars, SD.