Sd rats

All experimental protocols involving vertebrates were reviewed and approved by the Wake Forest University School of Medicine Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Procedures also followed the guidelines for the care and use of animals provided by the National Institutes of Health Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare. All efforts were made to minimize animal distress and suffering during experimental procedures, including during the use of anesthesia. A total of n = 85 male SD rats (Envigo) were used. SD rats were ∼300 g (approximately eight weeks old) when they arrived at our facility. Rats were housed at 22°C on a reverse 12/12 h light/dark cycle (4 P.M. lights on, 4 A.M. lights off). Transgenic Long–Evans TH::Cre rats (Witten et al., 2010 (link), 2011 (link)) were obtained from Rat Resource and Research Center (RRRC). A breeding colony was established for TH-Cre rats by breeding heterozygous TH-Cre males with WT Long–Evans females (obtained from Envigo). All progeny from breeding pairs were genotyped (Transnetyx), and nontransgenic littermates were used as controls. A total of n = 20 male TH-Cre (n = 14) or non-Tg littermate (n = 6) rats were used for experiments. Xenopus laevis oocytes were purchased from EcoCyte Bioscience.

Male and female SD rats were purchased from Envigo (Indianapolis, IN). Throughout the study, animals were housed individually in a temperature‐controlled room (22–24 °C) with a 12:12‐h light–dark cycle, with access to food and water ad libitum. All animal protocols were approved by the University of Alabama at Birmingham Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.