Mus were microinjected to BLA immediately after social aggression. At day 3 after social aggression, animals were sacrificed at 2 h after social interaction test. We quantified the expression levels of zif268 and arc in the BLA, vHIP and mPFC. As shown in Fig. 6a, b, the expression levels of zif268 and arc significantly decreased in the BLA and increased in the vHIP of the Mus-group compared with those in the saline-group (p < 0.05). In mPFC, no difference was observed between Mus-treated group and saline-treated group. c-Fos immunochemistry was performed to evaluated neural activity following social interaction test. In vHIP, numbers of c-Fos-positive cells increased in Mus-treated group compared with the saline-treated group (Fig. 6c, d, p < 0.05). In mPFC, numbers of c-Fos-positive cell also increased in Mus-treated group compared with the saline-treated group (Fig. 6e, f, p < 0.05).Fig. 6Effects of Mus microinjection to the BLA on IEGs expression. a zif268 mRNA expression levels in the BLA, vHIP and mPFC. b arc mRNA expression in the BLA, vHIP and mPFC. c Representative images of c-Fos in vHIP. d Numbers of c-Fos-positive cell in vHIP were calculated and statistically analyzed. e Representative images of c-Fos in mPFC. f Numbers of c-fos-positive cell in mPFC were calculated and statistically analyzed. Independent student t test was used, *p < 0.05 compared with the saline-group, n = 4