Representative images of the brain areas that project directly to the NAc ChIs and are implicated in depressive-like phenotype based on the literature. (A–G) Anti-GFP antibody immunolabeling revealed cells in several cortical areas including medial (MO) and ventral orbital (VO) prefrontal areas shown in A1, prelimbic cortex (PrL) in A2 and cingulate cortex (Cg) in A3; (B) central amygdaloid nucleus (CeN), (C) parafascicular thalamic nucleus (PF), (D) ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra (VTA-SN), (E) dorsal raphe (DR), (F) ventral hippocampus (vHIP), with large number of GFP⁺ cells in CA1 region, dorsal subiculum (DS) and ventral subiculum (VS); and (G) locus coeruleus (LC). (H) Graph represents the proportion of RV-GFP infected cells quantified throughout the brain of mice injected in the NAc. Graph bars are represented as the mean of the total number of cells in each region ± SEM from three replicate samples. Distance from the bregma: (A1) ∼2.58 mm, (A2) ∼1.94 mm, (A3) ∼1.10 mm, (B) approximately −1.34 mm, (C) approximately −2.18 mm, (D) approximately −2.92 mm, (E) approximately −4.60 mm, (F) approximately −3.80 mm, (G) approximately −5.40 mm. HIP - hippocampus.