Thus, the levels of both grooming (in the DMS, mPFC and vCA1) and anxiety (in the vCA1) are eliminated by co-stimulation of both populations of microglia (Fig. 6) This is in marked contrast with the behaviors that are induced when only Hoxb8 microglia are optogenetically stimulated within the appropriate regions of the brain (Figs. 1, 2, 4, and 5). Here, HOXB8 is linked to Anxiety.