Vglut2

These experiments used adult (4–6 months old) male C57BL/6J wild-type mice (Charles River Laboratories, UK) and transgenic mice heterozygous for the transgene expressing the Cre recombinase under the control of either the vesicular-glutamate transporter-2 (Vglut2) or the dopamine transporter (DAT) promoter (Jackson Laboratories; obtained from C57BL/6J crossed with Vglut2-ires-cre B6J.129S6(FVB)-Slc17a6tm2(cre)Lowl/MwarJ, stock number 028863, RRID: IMSR_JAX:028863; or with DAT-ires-cre B6.SJL-Slc6a3tm1.1(cre)Bkmn/J, stock number 006660, RRID: IMSR_JAX:006660) or for the transgene expressing the optimized Flp recombinase under the control of the DAT promoter (Jackson Laboratories; obtained from C57BL/6J crossed with DAT-P2A-Flpo Slc6a3em1(flpo)Hbat/J, stock number 035436, RRID: IMSR_JAX:035436)^{120 (link)–122 (link)}. Animals were housed with their littermates up until the start of the experiment. All mice held in IVCs, with wooden chew stick, nestlets and free access to water and food ad libitum in a dedicated housing facility with a 12/12 h light/dark cycle (lights on at 07:00), 19–23°C ambient temperature and 40–70% humidity. Experimental procedures performed on mice in accordance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 (United Kingdom), with final ethical review by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit of the UK Home Office.

For this study, we used 26 transgenic “VGLUT2-cre” adult male mice (25–30 g; aged 10–11 weeks) obtained by mating male and female homozygote VGLUT2-ires-Cre mice from Jackson Laboratories (strain name Slc17a6^tm2(cre)Lowl/J, stock #016963). All mice were bred in-house and maintained in standard cages, with food and water ad libitum, in a temperature- and humidity-controlled room under a 12 h light/12 h dark cycle. All the surgical and experimental procedures were performed according to the National Institutes of Health guidelines and the European communities Council Directive of 86/609/EEC and were approved by the University of Aix-Marseille and Lyon University Chancellor's Animal Research Committees.