Fig. 5

Retinal DA ACs express a high level of Oxtr mRNAs and are activated by oxytocin. A Left: an example image showing retinal DA neurons (TH IF) co-localized with OxtR-eYFP neurons. Right: summary result showing that more than 93% of TH⁺ neurons co-localized with OxtR-eYFP neurons. n = 61 TH⁺ neurons from 4 mice. B Statistical results about soma area of eYFP⁺, TH⁺ ACs and eYFP⁺, TH⁻ ACs. n = 57 TH⁺ and 310 TH⁻ of eYFP⁺ neurons from 4 mice, p < 0.0001, Mann–Whitney test. C Confocal images showing co-localization of eYFP⁺ neuron (GFP IF), TH⁺ neuron, and Oxtr mRNA puncta. White solid and dashed circles indicate eYFP⁺, TH⁺ and eYFP⁺, TH⁻ neurons, respectively. D Distribution of Oxtr fluorescence intensity in retinal eYFP⁺ neurons, eYFP⁺, TH⁺ neurons, and eYFP⁺, TH⁻ neurons. n = 24 and 21 eYFP⁺ neurons for TH⁺ and TH⁻ from 2 mice, respectively. E Confocal images showing co-localization of TH⁺ neuron and Oxtr mRNA puncta from a C57 WT mouse. Circles indicate TH⁺ neurons. F Quantitative analysis of Oxtr fluorescence intensity in DA ACs of WT mice and Oxtr-Cre; Ai3 mice. n = 32 and 24 TH⁺ neurons from 2 mice for WT mice and Oxtr-Cre; Ai3 mice, respectively. G Schematic of intravitreal injection (left) and experimental protocol (right). H Left: examples of cFos expression in TH neurons with saline (SAL, top) and oxytocin (Oxt, bottom) application. Right: summary about cFos intensity relative to TH signal in TH⁺ neurons in SAL and Oxt conditions. ***p < 0.001, Mann–Whitney test, n = 17 and 19 TH⁺ neurons for the SAL and Oxt groups from 2 mice, respectively. I Summaries of retinal DA (left) and DOPAC (right) concentrations with intravitreal injecting SAL and Oxt. *p < 0.05, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test, n = 7 mice. J Summary of the ratio between retinal DOPAC and DA with intravitreal injecting SAL and Oxt. *p < 0.05, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test, n = 7 mice. K Summary of vitreal DOPAC concentration with intravitreal injecting SAL and Oxt. *p < 0.05, paired t-test, n = 8 mice