Mice Vocalization and Optogenetic Studies

Wild-type C57BL/6NCrl mice (Charles River Laboratories, strain 027), Nts^Cre knock-in mice^{34 (link)} (Jackson Laboratory, strain 017525) and Ai9 or Ai14 tdTomato mice^{35 (link)} (Jackson Laboratory, strain 007909) were housed and bred in the animal facility at Stanford University in accordance with Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) guidance and were maintained on a 12-h light/dark cycle at temperature 70–75 °F and humidity 35–60%, with food and water provided ad libitum. Male mice of age 6–8 weeks were used for all adult social vocalization studies. Both male and female mice of age 6–8 weeks were used for all optogenetic stimulation and viral tracing studies. Neonatal mice were postnatal day 7 and were not sexed. All mouse experiments were approved by the Stanford University IACUC.