Lab standard stereotaxic instrument

For histological analyses, adult female Sprague–Dawley rats (250 g at the time point of surgery) were supplied by Janvier Labs (Saint-Berthevin Cedex, France). The housing of animals and submission to surgical procedures were performed in accordance with the European Union recommendations for the care and use of laboratory animals (2010/63/EU) and were approved by the regional authority (Regierungspräsidium Tübingen).
For stereotaxic injection of lentiviral suspensions, animals were deeply anesthetized with 2–5% isuflurane/oxygen, followed by an s.c. injection of metamizole (50 mg/kg). Stereotaxic injections into the dorsal dentate gyrus (AP: −2.9 mm, ML: ±2.5 mm, DV: −4.3 mm; all coordinates relative to Bregma) were performed using a Lab StandardTM Stereotaxic Instrument (Stoelting Company, Wood Dale, IL, USA) connected to a 701 RN Hamilton syringe (10 μl, 30 gauge, pst4; CS-Chromatographie Service GmbH, Langerwehe, Germany). For postoperative analgesia, 2 mg/kg meloxicam was administered by the s.c. injection following the surgical procedure. For fixation of brain tissue, animals were deeply anesthetized with ketamine (100 mg/kg i.p.) and xylazine (10 mg/kg i.p.) and transcardially perfused with 200 ml of PBS followed by 200 ml of 4% paraformaldehyde/PBS. Collected brain tissue was additionally fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde/PBS at 4°C for 60 min.

Adult female Sprague–Dawley rats (250 g at the time of surgery; Janvier) were kept in compliance with the European Union recommendations for the care and use of laboratory animals and as approved by the responsible German regional council, respectively. For stereotaxic injection of lentiviral suspensions, animals were deeply anesthetized with 2–5% isoflurane/oxygen, followed by s.c. injection of metamizole (50 mg/kg) for intraoperative analgesia at least 30 min before the start of surgical procedures. Bilateral injections of 2.5 μl of lentiviral suspensions (2 × 10⁷ TU/ml) into the dorsal dentate gyrus (AP: −2.9 mm, ML: ±2.5 mm, DV: −4.3 mm; all coordinates relative to Bregma) were conducted using a Lab Standard^TM Stereotaxic Instrument (Stoelting) connected to a 701 RN Hamilton syringe (10 μl, 30 gauge, pst 4; CS-Chromatographie Service). Injection speed was set to 0.2 μl/min. To assure sufficient postoperative analgesia, 2 mg/kg meloxicam was administered by s.c. injection at the end of surgical procedures.
For fixation of brain tissue, animals were deeply anesthetized with ketamine (100 mg/kg i.p.) and xylazine (10 mg/kg i.p.) and transcardially perfused with 100 ml of PBS followed by 250 ml of freshly prepared 4% paraformaldehyde/PBS. Brain tissue was collected and additionally fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde/PBS at 4°C for 60 min.