Objective To investigate whether dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta(SNpc)can re-ceive fibrous projections from the lateral hypothalamus(LH).Methods The techniques of retrograde tracers,transgenic mice,and anterograde neural circuit tracers were used to investigate the projection from the LH to the SNpc.The retrograde tracer cho-lera toxin subunit B(recombinant)Alexa FluorTM 488 conjugate(CTB-488)was injected into the SNpc of male C57BL/6 mice aged 8 weeks;one week later,the brain was collected to prepare frozen brain slices,and the Olympus VS120 fluorescence micro-scope was used to observe CTB-488-positive neurons in the LH.The anterograde transneuronal virus AAV-hSyn-Flp-WPRE-hGH was injected into the LH of male TH-Cre transgenic mice aged 8 weeks,and AAV-hSyn-Con/Fon-EYFP-WPRE-hGH was injected into the SNpc of the mice;three weeks later,the brain was collected to prepare brain slices and observe EYFP-positive cells and fi-bers in the SNpc and the striatum(Str).Results The retrograde tracer experiment showed that CTB-488-positive neurons were observed in the LH after the injection of CTB-488,indicating that the LH might be the upstream brain region of the SNpc.The an-terograde transneuronal virus tracking experiment showed that EYFP-positive neurons were observed in the SNpc of mice and EYFP-positive nerve fibers were observed in the Str,suggesting that the LH might dominate the dopaminergic neurons in the SNpc.Conclusion The LH is the upstream brain region of the SNpc and may dominate the dopaminergic neurons in the SNpc.
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