Brain-wide synaptic inputs to aromatase-expressing neurons in the medial amygdala (v1)

We reveal an unbiased view of the brain regions that provide specific inputs to aromatase-expressing cells in the medial amygdala using rabies tracing and light-sheet microscopy. We injected modified rabies (EnVA ΔG: eGFP) into the MeA of 15 (9 males and 6 females) genetically modified (Arom:cre) adult (2 to 8 months old) mice. Using a modified CLARITY protocol (Dwyer, et al., 2021) we cleared these whole brains and imaged them intact on a Zeiss Z1 lightsheet microscope. Thus, we were able to collect sub-cellular resolution images of each intact brain with fluorescence labeling being highly visible. This dataset shows the circuitry of a very ancient brain circuit and also provides high-resolution images of neurons and neural processes that can be analyzed for cellular, population, or even brain-wide expression patterns if desired. It can be used for both technical validation and biological inquiry as individual cells are visible even if not labeled with fluorescence.