OXT and viral infectious disease: Consistent with the PVN being the main origin of OXT fibers in the MeA, OXT-iCre mice with DREADD virus infection in the SON did not show any significant change in social interaction after CNO injection (differences in time spent in interaction zones tested via the t test, and differences in social preference scores tested via paired t test; ***p<0.001, **p<0.01, *p<0.05; n = 7; Figure 6F–G, J–K and N–O).