Fig. 2
Poking stimulation induces APs via Piezo2 activation in DPA neurons. a Photograph of the maxillary first and second molars in wild-type mice undergoing labeling trials and schematic timeline for whole-cell patch-clamp recordings conducted 1 day after TG neuron culture. b Schematic of the poking stimulation setup (white dashed line: fire-polished glass pipette for poking stimulation; yellow dashed line: patch pipette for recordings). Images show DiI-labeled DPA neurons (white) as part of primary cultured TG neurons. Scale bar: 20 μm. c Representative current-clamp response to a series of poking stimuli incremented in 1 μm steps (upper traces) in DPA neurons. Sweeps applied every 20 s. The relaxation time constant of this current was 0.1 ms. The red line indicates the 0 mV level. d Ratio of mechanically activated APs in DPA neurons. Numbers in (or above) bars represent the percentage of neurons. n = 52 neurons from 10 mice. e Comparison of Piezo2 mRNA levels after 24 h of transfection with scrambled siRNA or Piezo2 siRNA in TG neurons. n = 3 mice for both groups. Unpaired Student’s t test: *P = 0.043. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. f The proportion of mechanically activated APs in DPA neurons transfected with scrambled siRNA or Piezo2 siRNA. Patch-clamp recordings were conducted with the experimenter blinded to the siRNA treatment. Numbers in bars represent the percentage of neurons. n = 6 mice for scrambled siRNA and n = 7 mice for Piezo2 siRNA
